Last Chance
by WhatifStoryTeller
Summary: Gray has always trailed after Natsha and he was fine with that until their time together was cut in half, getting shorter with each passing day, and a new player entered the field. How is he suppose to make his love apparent when Natsha always thinking about fighting and baseball? School!Fic, Fem!NatsuxGray/Lyon, Love Triangle, slight LisannaxGray, Other pairings
1. Chapter 1

Gray stood outside her door. His backpack slumped against the mailbox. His tired eyes started to slowly close until he shook the sleepiness away. He felt misery that morning. He felt misery every single morning. How he managed to get up was still a mystery even to him.

The door of the petite house slammed into the wall, leaving a bigger crack than before in the wall. The person who caused it did not even seem to notice it, even when a voice from inside shouted at her. She only snickered in response and made her way down the three steps, right to the gate where Gray waited.

"Yo," he greeted with his hand weakly raised.

"Morning," Natsha replied, folding her arms behind her head and yawning. She cracked her joints before returning her hands at her side. Her wore out backpack hanged from one shoulder, jolting as she moved down the sidewalk.

He followed after her, and paused when they gotten to the corner. She rose onto her tippy toes, peaking above the bushes down the street, and went back down when she saw no one.

"Where's Lisanna?"

Gray only gave a slight shrug. "Maybe her parents drove them to school?" he suggested. As soon as he finished that sentence, he yawned and wiped his eye. "Come on, I don't want to be late again because of your slow ass."

"No one ever said you had to wait for me, asshole." She crossed the road without any indication to Gray, leaving him behind at the corner before he raced to catch back up.

As soon as he gotten back to her side, he shook his head. "You miss too much school. If I'm not here, then you'll repeat the whole grade, idiot."

Someone snickered behind them. Gray stopped in his tracks and turned around, while Natsha stayed oblivious to it.

Loke stood there with a smirk planted on his face. "What type of an excuse is that? 'Because you'll repeat the whole grade'?" The orange haired snickered once more. "At least come up with something better than that next time."

"Huh?" Natsha finally turned around and looked at the newcomer. "Oh, hey Loke."

"Hello," Loke bowed, "Natsha-chan." When he lifted himself up from his bow, he winked at Gray, who now bore a blush. He glanced over his shoulder once more, "Guess Lisanna-chan isn't coming today." He sighed and shifted his sunglasses, and then a thought came to mind. "Hey, Gray, mind if I borrow your notes?"

"As long as you keep your mouth shut," Gray uttered under his breath. Now his blush was fading away, and he kept a step behind Natsha.

Loke snorted and shook his head. He leaned into Gray's space and whispered so Natsha could not hear. "I've been keeping it hush for years, and quite frankly, I'm tired of it."

"Then forget it."

All of Loke's cheeriness disappeared. "It's too oblivious to not notice."

Gray raised his hand over his nose and mouth, biting his tongue. Really, did a guy have to be reminded twenty-four seven about this fact? Couldn't he get a break? He was already tensed as one could be, but everyone had to hassle him.

"Hey, you guys listening?" Natsha was staring at them from over her shoulder, a little annoyance in her voice.

Loke took a step away from Gray and joined up with Natsha. "What was it?"

"I was saying that I'm staying afterschool, so don't wait for me."

"Oh yeah," Loke nodded, "It's baseball season again." He blinked, and a smile appeared on his face as if he just had an idea. "Do you think it's too late for me to join?"

"Ask the coach," she shrugged, "I think it's a little late, but if you show some skil-"

"I have lots of skills," he smirked.

She blinked, nonchalantly, and said with a grin, "I don't think those count as skills."

"I guess we will see then," he flexed his arm but Natsha did not seem to be fazed by that.

"I'll still beat you in an arm wrestle."

"Bring it."

She cracked her knuckles and grinned. Both of them stood on the sidewalk, and Gray, thinking to himself, bumped into them. All three of them fell onto the pavement, with Natsha being the bottom.

Gray uttered a small sorry before standing up and reaching his hand out for Natsha to grab hold of. Loke stood up as well and dusted off his pants.

"Can't you ever watch where you are going?" Natsha taunted before lifting herself up.

Gray's hand dropped to his side. "You two were the ones who decided to stop in the middle of the sidewalk."

"We were going to arm wrestle," Natsha argued.

"Wait until we are in class then. Cana will have a fair with that."

"Party pooper," she uttered under her breath before adjusting her backpack and following the two.

Gray, going against what he was feeling, grinned. He really wanted to whack her sometimes. And this was one of those times.

It didn't take them long until they arrived in front of the school with the morning bell ringing. The students raced inside of the building, shutting their lockers or walking to class with their friends.

As soon as Loke walked into the building, one of the girls pulled him to the side. He gave a sent a small glance at Natsha and uttered, "Sorry." Then he left the duo.

"I'll get him tomorrow," she stated in determination, raising her fist in the air.

"Don't come crying to me afterwards."

Her grin quickly turned into a scowl. "What is that suppose to mean?"

"I'm just looking at your history," he shrugged.

She elbowed him in the ribs, and fasten her pace so she was walking ahead of him. "Then you should remember me beating your ass multiple times."

"Are you sure you wasn't dreaming it?" He flicked the back of her head in a retort.

"The only time I'm dreaming about you is in nightmares." She pretended to shiver in fright and he ended up right back at her side.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. So funny."

She swirled around, with her classroom right across the hall. Her friend was hanging outside of the doorway and grinned when Natsha dashed from Gray's side to the classroom.

He stood there in the middle of the hallway with an idiotic smile before the warning bell rang.

It didn't take him long to backtrack to his classroom, which was near the entrance of the school. Loke was waiting for him at the entrance of their classroom. He wasn't wearing his cocky smirk, which meant something happened while Gray was away.

They pulled their seats out from under the desk, swung their backpacks over the chair or under the desk, and turned to face each other.

"Break up?" Gray asked before the orange haired could even say a word.

"I hate you sometimes."

"So, is that a yes or no?"

"Yes," he sighed and laid his face on the desk.

"Sixth this year."

"Yes, yes, remind me of my past when I'm depressed. You really do know how to lighten my day, Asshole."

A chair on the side of Loke was pulled out and a black haired boy seated himself. He didn't glance at Gray or Loke as he pulled out his books and laid them on the desk. A purring sound came from his wore out backpack.

Loke and Gray exchanged a glance.

"You brought her again?" The raven haired asked.

There was a second pause before the newcomer answered. "It's too cold." He kept his eyes between the bag and his desk, never once looking at the two friends.

"Rogue," Loke called out his name and the boy finally looked his way. "I got dumped. And the only way for me to not die from listening to Gray's mouth is letting me pet her."

His eyebrows notched together, and glanced at Gray. "Really?"

"It's the sixth one," Gray answered with a smile. "She didn't even wait for him to say hey this morning, she just pulled him away."

His eyes returned on Loke, who now wore a begging pout. "Fine." Rogue leaned down to his backpack and slowly unzipped the bag. He searched around the room for any sighs of the teacher before his hand went inside and took out a small greenish-gray cat. The cat was only a few weeks old. And, with her parents absent, Rogue took care of her.

As soon as Loke touched the cat, she started meowing in disarmed. Loke stared into Rogue's eyes, trying to get any instructions on what to do. He placed the kitten against his chest and with his other hand; he gently petted her head and ran his hand across her body. "Is she hungry or something?"

"Cats just like to meow," Gray said. He, a little harshly, petted the cat's head.

"Fro doesn't like new people."

"Fro?"

"She killed a tadpole yesterday; I thought it was a nice name."

"Killed?"

Rogue nodded. It wasn't much of a kill since the tadpole was out of water and was moments away from dying, but Fro did chomp her teeth into it, ending his short life.

"Can I use her?" There was a devilish smile on Loke's face.

"That sounds so wrong…" Gray muttered to himself.

"No," Rogue denied.

"Why? See, she's making me smile now. Just wait until she bites one of Savi's fingers, it would be priceless!"

"No."

"Why?! You're killin' me, Rogue!" Loke turned to get Gray's help.

"It's his cat." He shrugged.

Rogue took a hold of Fro and placed her back in his bag. She meowed at first before there was silenced and then snoring.

Loke sat there with a frown.

And Gray gazed out of the window.

…

The last bell rang and the trio left the classroom. Gray glanced behind him as if looking for someone but people pushed him forward. Somehow, he was grabbed away from the pushing crowd, where Loke found shelter and Rogue soon joined.

"Something is missing," Rogue uttered, glancing back to the disbanding clutter.

"Actually giving a damn for something other than your cat? That's a first."

Loke snickered at Gray's remark and flicked his finger over his shoulder. "Natsa-chan's staying over for practice and Lisanna-chan's out cold."

"Ah," he uttered, "Crowd's gone."

Both Loke and Rogue turned to leave, while Gray was looking for a head in the crowd.

"Just go to her before we cringe to death."

"What do you mean?"

"You're looking for Natsha-chan."

Rogue nodded.

"Whatever," he shook his head and swung his backpack on his other shoulder. He turned and faced the entrance, "Come on, let's go."

Loke leaned over, whispering into Rogue's ear. "I think Gray needs his own cat."

"A white one would be good for him," he nodded in agreement.

"I'm not getting a cat!" Gray called back.

"White cat for sure."

And the three walked out of the building and headed to Loke's house, where milk was given to the smallest member of the group, and the gaming section began.

**Behold! Whatifstoryteller has brought about another story! Ha. Ha. HAAAA!**


	2. Chapter 2

The door was gently pushed opened and she stood there on the other side of the door. Her bangs, glistened in sweat, hanged against her forehead and the rest of her cherry blossom hair was held up in a simple ponytail. Her eyes dropped with exhaustion, and she shoved her way through his doorway without any welcome.

"Well, hello to you as well," he grumbled with a little irritation. After closing the door, he followed her into his living room. It was common for Natsha to show up at random hours at his house, being the closest, as well as the only friend of hers that had good notes; since most of Lisanna's notes were either covered in fur and other substances he would rather not think about, while Sting still brags about remembering every single thing when he still had trouble recalling his phone number. At least Rogue can actually remember the lessons, but getting him to explain it was a whole other deal.

And then there was Loke's…

He still had nightmares about those.

Natsha threw her backpack onto the ground next to the table. It looked like she didn't even go home before coming. "Can you help me?" She dropped herself onto his couch and leaned over the table, taking out her items.

"You really, really need to learn to wait for an answer before doing." He threw his dampen towel in the corner of the room. His bare chest, gleam from the shower, offered no reaction from Natsha either.

"It gets things done quicker," she shrugged. "So can you?"

"Fine," he faked a sigh and went to the other side of the couch. A small smile tugged at his lips as he glanced over his shoulder at her, but then dropped when he saw the mess forming. The table was filled with crumpled papers, broken folders, a slice of what he would call molded cheese, and finally, her textbook. "Not even a minute in, yet my house looks like your room."

"Hey!" she raised her finger, "This is actually cleaner."

"What an accomplishment."

And she, very elegant with her words and will become a president with great speeches that lasts through the decades, leaned forward and demanded, "Shut up, and give me the answers."

Oh, what presidency it would be. Just him thinking about it brought tears to his eyes.

He took one of the scattered pens and straighten a piece of plain paper out. She turned the book to the right page, "1-20, all even questions, and the section at the bottom."

"You really do hate me," he rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Gray." She pointed his chest with the end of her pencil. "Do math."

He looked her straight in the eye."Two compliments for each."

Natsha's cheeks swelled up as she pretended to barf over the couch. She went back to facing him. "I rather go to Loke's." She started to lift herself from the cushion, when Gray stopped her.

"He can't even do his own notes, he couldn't even explain how to factor x+9 and x+1 out of x^2 + 10x + 9, yet alone college algebra…remind me again why you are in this class?"

She sighed and returned. "Alright…this is gonna kill me." She took a deep breath. "You have wrinkles in your forehead reminds me of my grandpa. That one strand of hair is shiny, when was the last time you washed your hair? And your one straight tooth is fairly white in the right lig-"

Gray had to stop her right there. He raised a finger up to her lips, and grumbled, "Who the hell taught you how to compliment?"

"I learn from the best," she shrugged her shoulders and leaned back on the couch, allowing herself to relax her tense muscles. "Hey, I did what you demanded. Now, gimme the answers, calculator."

The one thing that he knew from hanging out with Natsha, she always knew how to irate him. Yet for some odd reason, he secretly enjoyed the attention.

It didn't stop him from flicking her on the forehead.

"Bad calculator!" She snapped his nose in payback.

"You're going to regret that!"

It didn't take long. Actually, this was probably on the record for the shortest time it took until an argument broke out.

The two of them were between the couch and the table, rolling around, with their hands gripping on the other's clothing. The pencils rolled off the table and dropped onto them, but at the moment, neither cared. The whole point of why she was there was forgotten as they threw insult after insult. Both of them tried to pin the other one down, pushing the furnation farther apart, until Gray was on top of her.

He held her hands to the ground. Her shirt was pulled down, being pressed between their bodies, and allowed her cleavage to be shown. Her sparklingly brown eyes glared at him, full of anger, as well as hints of hunger.

Ur's head peeked from the hallway and stared at the display before turning her back and entering the kitchen. She laid her jacket and shirt on the wooden chair, which Gray heard and lifted his view from Natsha's beautiful form onto his mother.

"Natsha-chan, will you be staying for dinner?" Ur, wearing no expressions of astonishment and only a motherly smile, looked at the two as innocently as ever. Her bra was in plain sight, and even then, Natsha did not react, yet it cause Gray to mumble a curse at his mother.

Gray speedily lifted himself from on top of Natsha and pulled himself onto the couch. A glowing blush rested on his cheeks, a blush that Ur quickly caught notice of and only grinned more brightly to herself.

Natsha, eager by the mention of food, promptly said yes without any hesitation. She lifted herself, using Gray's leg as support, and dropped herself back onto the couch.

"I hope chicken tenders will be fine."

"Anything's fine," she nodded.

He raised an eyebrow, always ready to counter her every statement. "Even shit?"

"Gray~!" Ur's singsong voice echoed through the house. "Language~!"

"Of~ Course~!" He mocked his mother's tone.

"And it looks like you'll be the one eating shit tonight," Natsha remarked, adding a huge grin for her excellent comeback.

"Natsha~!"

Both Gray and Natsha shared a glance, both knowing Ur's next word, and waited, but it never came. They chorused a sigh of relief, and relaxed against the couch cushions. And then they finally remembered as to why Natsha was there in the first place. Natsha opened the book once more while Gray picked up the pencils and papers on the ground.

Ur stepped out of the kitchen and stood behind the couch, looking over their shoulders. "What are you doing here, Natsha-chan?"

"Homework."

"Oh," Ur nodded, "I see."

"You may need to return your calculator." She raised her pencil, poking at Gray, who swiftly bit the end sticking out at him.

"Eh? I do?" Ur made eye contact with her son. "What's 2 plus 2?"

"42."

She smiled sweetly and shrugged her shoulders at Natsha, "There's nothing wrong with it."

Natsha snickered at their little act. "Try asking 1 plus 1 then."

"Gray," Ur started.

And he answered, "H with a dash."

"Correct!" The mother cheered, and giggled. She headed back into the hallway. "The chicken will be done in 10."

"That's 40 seconds, don't ya know." Gray nodded idiotically at Natsha.

"Alright. When did Loke get here?" She started looking around for the sassy, cold-shouldered boy.

He finally shook his head. "I can't go on with this anymore. I feel like I'm losing braincells by the second."

"That's how I feel all the time."

"Poor girl."

"Hey!" She bumped him with her shoulder and shoved a pencil in his hand.

"Fine, let's get to working."

After finishing problem 4, the timer rang in the kitchen. Gray was the one to pull the burnt tenders out and set the tenders onto the oven top, and filled a plate with them; and somehow his pants disappeared between the two places. Natsha didn't wait to grab a plate as she already started ripping them into pieces.

His mother arrived to the scene, now wearing only her underclothes. She looked at the overcooked tenders with a frown. "I guess I was off by a few minutes…"

"Or by a few 100 degrees." He gave a weak shrug and pulled a set out for himself.

"Maybe Natsha-chan would cook for us next time then." Ur took the seat across from the two kids.

At the sound of her name, Natsha refocused on others in the room. "Huh? Did I miss something."

"No, sweetie."

She nodded and went back to filling her gut.

They made small chat as they emptied their plates. One question that Ur ask was, "What college have you decided on going?"

"Dragneel University. The one in Joya."

"That's a bit far away, don't you think?"

"I'll manage. I heard that Rogue and Sting was heading up there as well, Sting's going to Sabortooth, while Rogue's heading to Dragneel with me."

Ur turned to look at Gray, "And, have you decided?"

After a second pause, he shook his head. Saying that he wanted to head to Dragneel out loud seemed like an idiotic move. Natsha would probably think he's stalking her, and he could not blame her either. He did want to head to Dragneel University, but there was another one that interested him.

The raven haired woman tirelessly nodded at his answer and dipped her tender constantly as if she was in thought.

Their dinner was soon over and the two went back to studying. It didn't take them long to finish the assignment, but it was around nine when Natsha finally left their home.

It didn't take Gray long to sleep that night. He felt tired as hell from being so close to her, and that position his mother found them in, made him unnerved. Through his sleep cycles, he came again and again to imaging the pink haired girl sitting across from him, and saying, "You are the coolest bastard ever."

Yet, he always ended up hearing, "You have wrinkles in your forehead reminds me of my grandpa."

But he still smiled.

That was one of her few visits to his house during her baseball season.

**I really really really didn't think this story would have this much attention...then again...I have a lot of stalkers, or very very faithful followers (which is basically the same thing as stalkers). Remember when I was trying to get the whole 'And to my listeners' before I replied to the reviews? I'm probably gonna change that to 'And to my loyal stalkers'. **

**KarouUchiha: Bet you didn't see this chappie coming.**

**FlyingDoll4: Gray already stands out enough with his blue hair...so a nyan cat may turn him into a gas station light. Plus, white = snow. **

**firelass19: He tried, and he failed. Now, whenever her grandpa visits, she will have a hard time figuring out who's who. I'll just say, a lot of drama and misunderstandings. **

**JustAnotherFairy: We all have that one energetic best friend whose purpose in the world seems to be annoying you. Now I need to make Fro have more appearances...everyone seemed to love her. Thanks for the review!**

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Course, Fro's the heroine this story needs (sorry Natsha). **

**darkhuntressxir: Everyone but Natsha knows. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the teachers knew. **

**Staticy Fox Atra: I felt bad for Gray being alone with Loke, so I needed another emotionless punk to add to their crew. Heh, thanks for teh review and I hope you enjoyed this chappie!**

**Thanks for the support with this new story! I've been writing this story for the last week, so I'm trying to upload what I have written every five days! No promises!**


	3. Chapter 3

Loke hopped on Gray's desk one school afternoon and waved his phone in Gray's face. "Lucy-chan finally said yes!"

He raised his eyebrow. "Out of pity or some shit?"

Loke rolled his eyes and dreamy gazed at the number. "All of that work finally paid off!"

Rogue entered the room and Loke bragged about it to him as well. The only thing that Rogue could response with was, "Yeah?"

"Your guys' lives would be dreadful without me, y'know."

"How so?" The two distant people asked, nonchalantly.

"You both are pussies."

"And?"

They heard that remark so many times that it didn't fazed them at all.

"Obsess with a kitten. Too coward to get a girl." He held his hands out to each of them. "I rest my case."

Gray and Rogue shared a look and flipped the desk over. Loke fell forward, right into the desks in front of them, which was luckily empty at that moment.

"Ops," Rogue uttered calmly.

"Sorry," Gray said without a hint of any regret.

They both looked at him as emotionless as ever, blinking as if nothing even happened.

Loke flipped them off and fixed the desk. He moved his own desk away from Rogue's and Gray's. "I'm staying after school."

"So no games?"

"…You guys aren't even wondering why…"

"You got a girl, every time that happens, game session ends."

Rogue turned to Gray.

Neither one of them had games, which was the only reason why they kept Loke around. Well, and he wouldn't leave them alone. And Rogue had to get on the bus to get back home. He only went along with them to Loke's because of their arrangement with his sister.

"Ugh," Gray leaned back in his seat before Rogue could speak a word, "I hate when this happens." He was hoping that Loke would at least wait until spring break, but Loke was half rabbit, part alien, part lion, and a frog.

"Don't worry, it won't last long." The black haired shrugged.

"Hey now!" Loke turned back around in his chair and pointed at Rogue. "This is Lucy-chan, not like the others."

There was a moment of silence as it all settled in, and all three laughed. Soon, the teacher came in and began teaching class. Gray leaned back in his chair and stared out the window without a purpose.

…

He picked up a crippled up piece of paper and tried once more to throw it in the trashcan. It bounced against the edge before going inside with the rest of the papers. He blew his hair out of his face and fell back onto the bed; his scattered clothing provided cushion.

"I'm bored," he mumbled for what felt like the hundredth time that evening, and glanced at the clock.

4:24 p.m.

It has only been an hour since he gotten home from school and even flipping through the channels didn't entertain him. He threw the remote across his blanket, even knowing that later on, he wouldn't be able to find it, and lifted himself off the mattress.

Gray slide the laptop out from under his bed and cocked it between his arm and side, and left his boring room. He passed by Ultear's room and then his mother's; neither one of them was there at the moment. His older sister went off to college a year prior, which was lucky for Gray, and his mother was working until late. Her only day-offs were Monday and Wednesday; those were the days that Gray clogged his nose when walking into the kitchen.

He flung himself on the couch and laid his laptop on top of his chest with no clothing in between. He could already felt the heat from the fan. It didn't take him long to login and open .

Three messages, one event, and no new friend request.

Just as how he liked it.

Well, other than the event.

Other than Loke's blind date 'events', or weddings invitations from his mother's friends, Gray usually never gotten any of those.

The first message was from Loke, who decided it was the best idea to send Gray numerous pictures of their outing. Gray didn't even bother to reply and open up the second one.

It was from Sting, Rogue's friend who thought Gray was his own friend. Sting reminded Gray too much of Natsha, which was a bad thing. He already had enough of Natsha in his life already. But the message was a simple greeting and Gray responded.

And, finally, the last message. It was a group message with Lisanna and Natsha.

Oh great.

Since Natsha's baseball season started, he hasn't seen much of her other than in the mornings and that one afternoon. And they were never alone in the mornings with Loke and Lisanna.

His heart thumped against his chest.

He's been doing well on avoiding thinking about Natsha, but now his thoughts lingered. Maybe he should have walked her to practice, or even watch her play. It wasn't as if she told him not too. Just like walking her to school, which ended up becoming the norm.

Plus, he was always playing games and catching up on homework when he gotten home that he didn't mind for the time being.

Yet, now he felt it.

Gray didn't even read the message or event. He jerked upwards, closed the laptop and slides it under the couch, threw on a jacket, and left his house.

That was his problem. He waited for her every sign to make a move.

The raven haired didn't exactly know what his problem was today, but he felt it today.

He felt alone.

Oh great, he was going emo.

And he's pretty sure only crazy girls liked that.

Not dangerous girls like Natsha, but the girls who fight over their fictional characters or brag about drinking blood.

He rather keep the taste of blood out of his mouth.

Ugh…

His cheeks started to blush as he ended up thinking about something he shouldn't think about.

Get a girl first, and then think about that shit.

It didn't take him long to get to the school. There were only a few people there. Some teachers stayed after school; he could tell by the cars outside building. Most of the activity was behind the school building. It was a diamond-shaped field with seats behind a fence; a few of them were filled by parents, friends, or lovers. He mostly saw students, since parents liked to come when it was over.

Lisanna filled one of the seats. She was cheering Natsha and Elfman, her older brother who played the catcher. Natsha was playing for the offense for this practice. Both of them were wearing their gym clothes instead of uniforms, and she had her hair tied in a ponytail.

And Lisanna was the only one he recognizes out of the group, so he took the seat next to hers. As soon as she turned and saw him, her face turned paler than it was.

"Gray-kun?" Her sweet petite voice questioned. Her nose was still a slight pink from her cold, but other than that, she looked fine.

He blinked as if there was nothing to question about. "Decided to come," he shrugged as if there was no big deal.

"Oh, you got my message." Her thin lips slowly pulled back into a friendly smile. "Natsha-chan's next to bat," she nodded her head in the direction of the field.

"Great, this should be good." He blurted out without thinking. Sarcasm was starting to become his default.

Lisanna gave him a friendly jab in the ribs. It wasn't as hard as Natsha's, it was more of a faint touch than anything.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He leaned back in his seat and raised one arm over his head. Others couldn't see where he was looking, but he had his sights set on the pink haired that walked out next to the base. Elfman stood behind her; his husky form was towering over hers until he bent low to the ground and sent a single to the pitcher, who returned it.

Natsha lifted the bat to her shoulder and glared at the white-haired pitcher who wore a baseball cap. He bounced the ball in the air, placed it back in his glove, spat onto the ground, corrected his cap and finally, he threw the ball.

It sped through the air.

Elfman lifted his glove outwards.

Natsha swung her bat.

The wooden surface met with the baseball and flung it backwards. The ball flew through the air, speeding past the pitcher and onto the outfield. She dropped her bat onto the ground and ran for first base. Another runner ran to third, glanced over his shoulder, and tried for the home.

He was only steps away when the ball was sent back to the person on third. He ran after the runner and Natsha ran for second. Her foot touched the base at the same time that the ball touched home, before the runner gotten there. There was no running back.

The runner was sent back to the batting line and Natsha stayed on second. The ball returned to Lyon, who pitched it once more.

This was also when Natsha sighted Gray in the bleachers. She stood there even when the next batter ran for first. Finally, she shook the shocked feeling away and continued, but it was oblivious that she still had plenty of questions.

This was how the game went for the next hour until practice was over. The coach blew his whistle and the equipment was returned. It took a few minutes until Natsha emerged from the backroom, wearing her school clothes instead of gym clothes, and her hair was down; flowing past her shoulder and resting on her back.

Gray and Lisanna walked over to greet her, and Gray was meet with widen eyes stare down. "What is he doing here?" She pointed at the raven haired, looking at Lisanna.

"He came to watch the practice, silly." Lisanna smiled with her eyes closed and gently pressed Natsha's arm back down to her side so she wasn't pointing at Gray anymore. And her smile sent chills up Gray's back. It was the same smile that meant she knew more than what she was letting on.

Why the hell did everyone know?

Why couldn't they be oblivious like Natsha?

Then again, that may be asking for too much. Natsha had that look perfected.

He tried to stay calm and raise his hand in a weak greeting. "Nice game."

Natsha seemed to forget about her questioning and looked down at her bruised knuckles and irritated skin from holding the bat so tightly. "I still need to practice."

"Coach-san already called the equipment," Lisanna said, "So you can't stay after today."

The door opened up and that guy from before walked out. His white hair shined in sweat, and he brushed it back with his wore down hands. He stood behind Natsha and looked over at Gray strangely. He didn't even try to greet him before turning to Natsha, assuming a cool expression. "Loosen your grip; tighten it at the last moment. Or else you will have stiff hands through the whole game."

Gray clicked his tongue. He didn't like this guy's presence. There was something about him that bothered Gray to no ends.

"Lyon-kun!" Lisanna grinned fondly at him.

He raised an eyebrow and nodded his head as a way of saying hello. He turned his focus back onto the pink haired. "And pay attention to the game." He side-glanced Gray before moving away from their group.

"Lyon-kun! Wait!" Lisanna tried to get his attention, but he was already going by the school building. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "I was going to introduce you guys."

"That guy…" He didn't finish his sentence. The other two seemed to like this new guy, for some reason that Gray couldn't place. He just felt disturbed when that guy came, and that glance in his direction. Did he really think Gray was a bother? All that Gray has done was shown up; he didn't mean to throw off Natsha's attention.

"Maybe he's right…" Natsha uttered. She was now lost in her own little world while staring at her hands. She cracked her knuckles and stretched them, thinking about the words that Lyon told her.

"I thought you were good." The words came out of Gray's mouth before he knew it, and quickly, he turned his head away, hoping they wouldn't notice his now-forming blush.

"Really?" Natsha asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, you show Elfman-nii whose boss," Lisanna took Natsha's hands. Now the two were gazing in each others' eyes, Lisanna grinned and Natsha did as well.

Gray bit his tongue.

So cute.

Too cute.

Maybe he shouldn't have come. He was only getting in their way.

The pink haired roared in excitement. "Then I gotta train harder!"

"Game's next week," Elfman finally came out of the building and rested his hand on Lisanna's shoulder. "I'm gonna show everyone how a man does it!"

"You couldn't even score a homerun this game." Natsha stuck her tongue out at him in friendly manner.

"Sun was in m-"

Natsha snickered at him, and started heading towards the parking lot; the other three followed behind her. She swung her gym bag over her shoulder and moved along the sidewalk. Lisanna stepped next to her, leaving Elfman and him walking behind.

This wasn't as how he pictured walking Natsha home, but at least he didn't feel that lonely feeling in his chest. Instead, he had the same feeling when he first started hanging out with Natsha that thumped against his chest.

A metallic blue car slowed down next to them and the window rolled down. Lyon glanced out of the open window, right at Natsha. "You want a ride?"

Gray was really starting to think this guy hated his guts, but it seemed as though Elfman had the same thoughts. Natsha couldn't even answer the pitcher because her stomach rumbled, and Elfman roared, "What about us?"

"No room," Lyon answered coldly. "There's no backseat," he added, thinking he came off too strong.

"What a nice excuse," Gray mumbled under his breath, where no one could hear.

Natsha shook her head, "My house is near, so there's no point."

"Suit yourself," he gave a weak shrug and rolled up the window. His car rolled past them, and as soon as he was out of their sights, Lisanna raised her hand and giggled into it.

"Why didn't you say yes?" she teased her friend.

"Eh? What's the point? My house is near, plus I got motion sickness." She side-glanced a nearby car and her stomach grumbled, as if proving her claim.

Elfman blew air out of his nose and lifted his arms over his head. The two girls continued to talk about whatever girls talked about, so Gray moved closer to Elfman and leaned in. "What's with that guy?"

"Team captain and the new pitcher," Elfman answered, "This is the first season I've seen him at practice. I don't know what's his problem is though."

"He acts like he has his panties in a bunch," Gray commented with an aggravated tone.

"He never talks to anyone on the team but…"

"But what? Who?"

"Natsha-san," Elfman gave a slight shrug and looked at Gray as obliviously as one could be. Maybe the oblivious look wasn't just a Natsha thing, but Idiots' thing.

That was already apparent to Gray. The guy acted like cocky bastard, which was even more than how Gray and Sting acted combined.

And it wasn't as if Gray didn't have enough problems in his life.

**After this chapter, things start heating up. Because this story is more of a slice of life than my other stories, there are very few fillers and I'll only cover one scene instead of seperating it to show what another person is doing at the same time. And, after this chapter, expect baseball to become more of a plot point (I'm not saying that there's baseball in every scene, but Natsha's side of the stories will mostly focus there cuz...that's basically all she does in this story, while Gray is going from one friend to the other). **

**AND...to my lovely STALKERS**

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Any moment is cute with such a oblivious character...as long as she doesn't get mad...then ya better run.**

**darkhuntressxir: If Natsha isn't kicking some butt, then she's usually not getting the clue.**

**KarouUchiha: Expect more of that then!**

**firelass19: Eh... Will keep my mouth shut bout that. Fem!NatsuxGray is like the most popular, though I'm starting to see some love for Fem!NatsuxLaxus. That's pretty much what a stalker is...not much difference. Plus, I mean, if I don't even use my normal tags or pairings, people still find me. Thanks for your STALKISH review! And...what's with you and omega? Just wanted to ask...that's it... I'm just curious...**


	4. Chapter 4

He stood there on the bleachers, and sighed as the coach called game over. The spot next to him was emptied. As soon as Elfman heard Lisanna sneeze, the two of them flee to the nearest hospital in the middle of the game. The crowd on the bleachers littered out onto the field to congratulate the winning team.

Gray followed them down and leaned himself against the gate. His eyes, shaded by his hair, gazed at surrounded crowd. He peered through their bodies, hoping he could get a glance at the only person he had his heart ache for. There was no pink hair in the crowd, and he let out a sigh.

As the players cerebrated their win, a few of the audience started to leave. Even the losing team decided that it was time to go. Gray was the few that stayed out on the field as the players went to redress themselves. As soon as they came out again, they split off with each other and headed towards their friends.

Gray moved a little closer to that building. He watched as each member exited, waiting for the pink haired to show. He wanted to tell her something, which, for the first time, wasn't something rude. He never thought the day would come where he actually wanted to pat her on the back instead of whipping her ass.

Then again, he could do both at the same time if they were in bed.

Now Gray was starting to wonder if Loke was in control of his thoughts.

As he was badgering himself over that stupid thought, Natsha came out of the building. She had a grin the size of Joya planted on her face. And she had a bounce in her every step. She didn't look like she just played an intense game of baseball, instead she looked like she just graduated from school.

Her baddy shorts, a little longer now because of the cold weather, stayed against her tanned skin, while her blouse, showing a decent amount of cleavage, looked a size too small on her.

The boy, now seeing her, took a step forward. The door on the other side opened, and a white haired pitcher walked out. He glanced at Gray, with a smirk, and went up to the pinky, patting her on the shoulder. "Great job out there," he said. For once he sounded like he had emotions instead of sounding like a neural alien from a distant planet.

Gray couldn't help but feel Lyon meant to do that just to despise him. "Na-"

Natsha walked past him. Actually, she didn't even notice him as she walked along with Lyon. "We're on a winning streak! I can't wait to tell Lisanna about this!"

"That Elfman has bad timing… Just taking off like that in the middle of the game."

"That's Elfman for you," the girl shrugged. "He's always cautious."

"Exactly your opposite."

"Heh, I guess so."

Now, if Gray were to say that, Natsha would have taken that as an insult.

And the poor Gray was left there on the field as the others left.

Did she really just leave him?

Did she really forget about him? I mean, come on, he's been there for most of her games and he always paid for lunch every time that they won, which was every time that Gray shown up to the match. Did Natsha only notice him when Lisanna was around?

He walked himself home. Mad at the world, well mostly at himself and Natsha. Himself for being such a pussy, and at Natsha for her simple-minded natures.

…

Loke placed his head on Gray's desk and pressed his hands together in a pleading motion. "Please," Loke begged the raven haired once more.

"No," Gray answered without glancing away from his phone. He was on FairyTail, finally checking into that event that popped up a few days ago. It was about Natsha's game this week. He pressed accept without much thought and looked through the other messages. Maybe this time Natsha will remember him.

"But I'm so tempted!"

"It's not my fault you have weak willpower."

"It's always there, looking at me. I already deleted all of it off my phone, but I can't destroy this." He raised the black book to Gray's face.

The smell entered his nose.

He jerked back, his book clanked onto his desk, and he felt like he was about to puke. The girls around him started to move away, from the idea of throw up or the scent gotten to them.

"Please," Loke begged once more, unfazed by Gray's reaction.

"What the hell did you do to that?!"

"I've had this since fourth grade." He sounded proud of that fact. Then again, this was Loke. He was proud of anything, even when he made the biggest paper airplane and still bragged about it.

"Loke, I'm gonna be serious with you," Gray leaned forward and flicked Loke in the head, "There's some shit that I don't want to learn about you, and this is exactly that shit."

"Please."

"I'm gonna throw it away, you know."

"Gray-sama!" Loke went back to his pleading form, "This is my history. Each page is for a different phase. You can't."

Gray never wanted to hear _'Gray-sama'_ again from Loke's mouth.

His eyelids lowered halfway and finally he gave in. He slipped the ill token in the bottom of his backpack and cursed under his breath at the orange haired. Loke did not seem to notice, he was too busy cheering.

"Why the hell do you keep their numbers?"

Loke paused and winked at Gray, "You never know if when they change their mind."

"Even from fourth grade?"

"I'm still surprise they haven't blocked my number yet."

"I'm surprise they kept the same number."

"Oh that?" Loke snickered, "Don't worry, I always found it one way or another."

"If I was your ex, I would have become Amish then."

"If you were my ex, I would have killed myself."

Rogue, whose timing was perfect, stood between the two of them with confusion written all over his face. His backpack was practically empty without his cat napping inside; poor thing grew up too quickly. "I have no clue what happened, but please tell me you're not dating."

"As if you would care," Loke muttered under his breath. Once again, other than cats and games, Rogue barely thought of much else. Without having Fro in his backpack, the black haired acted like a zombie through the schooldays. Things like friends were more of an afterthought at most.

"Just the thought of it makes me want to skin myself." Gray commented with the same amount of disgust as Loke.

All of them shared a look and nodded.

"Agree."

**Short chapter, don't kill me. **

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Pretty much. Gray's a talker away from Natsha, since he's crushin on her, while Lyon hates everyone, but is a talker around Natsha. Yup, you're weird. then again, I am weird as well. **

**darkhuntressxir: And pretty much the opposite happens. He just lets the two walk into the sunlight. **

**AsDarknessSpreads: Tis true. At least it wasn't 'Cockier than Loke, Sting and Gray combined', or then we would have a big big problem on our hands. **

**firelass19: Oh, alright. I was just wondering because when you say Omega, I just think about Pokemon Omega Ruby. Man...I just recognize. I have the power to ruin your shippings as well :D Then again, I'm not that evil. Don't worry, after he has a breakdown, he starts getting somewhere.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Really…I'm thinking that guy hates my guts…" Gray uttered to Elfman as they left the white haired pitcher behind. Elfman blinked and nodded. "Probably."

"What do you mean?" Natsha called back.

Gray gulped, he was pretty sure that only Elfman had heard; he was going to tell the man about what happened last Saturday, after Elfman and Lisanna left. "It's just…" He looked over to Elfman for help, but the dark skinned man only shook his head. "I just get the feeling."

"What a puss."

"Hey!"

She shrugged and turned to Lisanna, who had a coughing mask over her face. "What do you think?"

"He's…quite distanced."

"Really?" Natsha raised an eyebrow. "I never saw that. He's always helping out."

_For you._

They all thought.

"Hm, I like him." She gave a weak shrug, and turned to look at Gray, "Oi, Gray, can you help me with my homework by the way?"

It took him a moment to understand that she was asking him a question; he was still taking in the first sentence. "You still gotta pay." He was still waiting for those last fifteen from last time, not counting those compliments-insults that she first gave him. And now, he was sensitive over his old man forehead wrinkles. Thanks Natsha.

The girl glanced behind her at her best friend, and jerked a thumb in Gray's direction. "Lisanna, pay him."

Lisanna looked at the two fools and shook her head. "That's a heavy price to pay, so I'll leave that to you. See y'all tomorrow," she waved as they came to the corner. She and her brother left, heading down the street to their own home; leaving Natsha and Gray to walk alone on the sidewalk.

She was always a step ahead of him, but he made sure the gap did not widen.

It felt nostalgic being back in this cycle, but he still held a little resentment from the past Saturday.

How long as it been since it was only them?

He couldn't recall.

It seemed like every time that they were alone Loke or one of their friends would join the mix, with good intentions of course. And then there was Lyon… Who decides to steal his girl away as soon as Gray has a chance.

In the mornings, he only had a few moments with her, and that was basically filled with her complaining about getting up and complaining about him coming to walk her to school. Then, he would not see her until the next day. But now, after he started heading to her practices, they were able to walk alone at last. Something that he missed, but he still wished that topic about a certain pitcher wouldn't be brought up.

Every time that this happened, he felt somewhat at bliss.

He should have listened to his gut a long time ago. Though he wished he didn't have to meet with that bastard in the first place.

The girl, on the other hand, paid no attention to him at all. She was too busy going back over her practice, repeating all of the pointers that Lyon told her once more; which annoyed him. The only thing that gotten her out of her daydream was of the sight of Igneel pulling out of the drive way. She paused in the middle of the sidewalk, waving at the red haired as he passed.

Gray did not notice.

He walked right into her. She tumbled forward, her knee scratched against the pavement while her head landed on the grass. He fell on top of her, his elbow scraped, while his other arm was reached out to stop himself from landing on her. He grunted as the hit jolted up his arm. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to arm wrestle for at least a week; then again, he didn't even arm wrestle. It was Natsha's thing.

His bookbag landed on the ground; his items scattered all over the ground.

Quickly, Gray picked himself up and had his hand reached out for Natsha to grab. The girl only glared at him before picking herself up and glancing down at the small scrape.

"Sorry," he stretched his arm behind his head and gazed at the ground.

"You really need to watch where you're going."

"I wonder if Rogue could spare me seeing-eye cat," he mumbled mostly to himself.

"That cat would run away in a week."

He rolled his eyes and her taunt, and stepped into the lawn and started filling his backpack. Natsha followed him, grabbing his items and throwing it inside. A small item had gotten her attention. With a snicker, she leaned over and picked up a black book. Her smile turned into a smirk, "What's this? A diary?"

Gray only rolled his eyes, thinking that she picked up one of his library books, and not that book.

She slipped through the pages, trying to get his attention to tease him some more, but when she saw that didn't work; she stopped on one of the pages.

Natsha was not expecting these written words.

It was not juicy details about one of his nightmares or wet dreams, but page with a girl's name, small description, and phone number. The description mostly covered breast size or small topics, such as what mad the girl wet.

Natsha was not smiling anymore. The book was bending between her fingers, before she threw it in the bag. It seconds, she left Gray there, kneeling.

"Huh?" He twisted around, extremely confused at the moment. He tried to gather the rest up, but when he was done, Natsha was already inside of her house.

He knew from experiences that Natsha would never answer the door for him.

What the hell was her problem?

What happened to the study session?

Did he smell?

…

"Lisanna," Natsha uttered into her cell phone. "Come one…answer already…" She sighed as the beeps gotten wider and wider apart. Her finger lingered onto the END call button, but the other end finally picked up. "Lisanna! Finally!"

_'Natsha-chan? Hello?'_ The phone was close to Lisanna's mouth, and yet Natsha could still hear the animals chirping form behind. Natsha could barely hear the girl over the background noise, and Lisanna couldn't hear Natsha either.

"Are your notes still readable?"

_'Huh? What do you mean? Do you need my notes?' _The girl coughed into the phone,_ 'Sorry.'_

"Ye-"

_"Give me a moment,_' Lisanna uttered as she made her way through the zoo, her house. There was noise of a door opening and closing, and then silence. _'Alright, can you please repeat that?'_

"Me needy help on homeworkie."

_'Oh,_' she uttered and quickly commented with, _'And help with grammar as well.'_ She paused a second, _'Alright, I'll be over in a few. Maybe Mira-nee will drop me off.'_

"Thanks a lot, Lisanna."

_'No problem~!'_

After a quick goodbye, Natsha hanged up her phone. She sighed and threw it on the middle of her bed. She tried to make her room a little more welcoming by throwing the discarded clothes into her closest.

Which was the same moment that Igneel chose to walk by her door; he glanced inside and gasped in shocked. "Y-You're cleaning?"

"Gotta have more for a sacrifice."

He was about to question her, but this was Natsha and he knew better. She would only give him another answer to worry about. With a disapproving shake of his head, he moved on to his room, "Have fun." As long as she didn't burn down the house again, then it was fine. And if she was sacrificing a virgin, then he knew he was safe, but that couldn't be said for poor Gray-bo.

As soon as Igneel left, she snickered. "Works every time," she grinned and clapped her hands together. She threw another sock to the massive pile, and crossed her arms, "Looks clean enough."

In the middle of her room was a small table, usually littered with empty packages and bras, that was close to the ground. She lifted her backpack to her bed and dug through it for her ragged notebook and half-eaten pencils.

"Hey," Igneel came back to her door.

"Yeah?"

He licked his lips and bobbed his head towards the front room. "Did you by chance…invited a wolf over?"

"Oh!" She shot up from her bed and went pass him. As she gotten closer to the front room, she could hear the knocking and a slight heavy breathing. Natsha opened the door and Igneel was right.

"Hey! I'm here and I'm sorry!" Lisanna uttered before Natsha could ask. She waved her hand down at her wolf, "Luka-chan wouldn't let me go… She kept pouting and I felt bad. Oh, and don't worry, she's housetrain!"

"Please just tell me she doesn't have an appetite for paper."

"No…why would she?"

"Just looking at your pets' history…"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Her hand lowered down and petted Luka's head. "Paper is bad for animals, you know."

Natsha shook her head. "Nevermind. Come on, Luigi and Isaac."

"I'm pretty sure she means us," the white haired whispered in her wolf's ear. "Though…she still hasn't learned the differences between girls and boys… Maybe Gray would give her a lesso-" Her cheeks flushed as she uttered those last words. "I've been hanging out with Sting-kun too much..." She sighed and shook her head.

"Hey, what's the hold up? I'm pretty sure there are no peeled bananas or blue shells."

"If there were any, they would be aiming for you…" She followed her friend into her room. "Wow, it's so clean."

"Now I don't have to do anything in Spring."

Lisanna nodded while Luka roamed around the room. She found a spot on the bottom end of the bed and curled up, right on top of Natsha's backpack. Yet the girl didn't seem to mind. She quickly sat down in front of her table, and Lisanna seated herself on the other side. Her backpack landed on the ground, full of feathers and fur, and pulled out her notebook full of bite marks. "Alright, let's get to work!"

"Wait, no payments?"

"No…?"

"No fighting?"

"No?"

"No burning cookies?"

"..?" Now, Lisanna was lost for words. She lifted her eyebrow at her friend, and made the connection. Natsha did ask Gray to help her with her homework first, and now she was asking her for help. "Did something happen with Gray-kun?"

"No!" Natsha blurted out and shook her head. "Come on, let's just work." She didn't even know what gotten her so out of it. Maybe Gray poisoned her with something. That felt like a perfectly logical reason to her.

"You…were the one who started it…" Lisanna looked at Luka for help, yet the wolf only yawned.

She really felt something was off, yet she had no clue what exactly.

**I love using filler names, such as my own and Luffy' , I've been noticing...man...I make the boys such wimps. Probably because when I have them in love...they are lovesick to the point of being frustrating. I feel like Rogue would be the only one who wasn't such a dork compared to Loke and Gray. And even though this story is a love triangle,I'm pretty sure everyone knows who I'm ending this story with... Rogue and Fro! The most happiest couple around! Really, look who I've been writing for. I probably have on Lyon moment written so far.  
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**darkhuntressxir: Even when he doesn't do anything, he gets the bad end of the deal.**

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: She just didn't notice/remember him being there. She remember Lisanna leaving, but not who left with her. **

**firelass19: I don't like the stories in the games/anime, but I like the aspect of catching pokemon. It's starting to get easier though... Then you are going to hate me for this chapter... I just love ripping relationships to shred. They can't get together so soon, y'know, so we have to push them together. You had your GraNa in the very beginning, with the two studying. **

**Danizinhachan: You have very bad timing, sempai. I've been trying to make GrayNatsuLyon story forever, but it took until now to finally figure out a plot. Well...the plot is more of a mixture of several other stories that I've wanted to do in the past. Yeah, I've read the newest chapters... And I'm so happy that Lucy didn't train with Natsu... But I'm mad that she didn't even try to train in that year... At least it looks like she's more of a observer. I know this is bad...but I kinda wished that all of the Fairy Tail members vanished from the earth, just like Natsu did, so they could train. He should have, but he knew that he would have only ruined the fun. And, yeah, I know whose gonna end up with Natsha. I mean...I wouldn't be writing so much about one love interest instead of giving them both equal scene time if I didn't already know the end goal... **

**Thank you, my eager stalkers~!**


	6. Chapter 6

The alarm rang and rang, and after what felt like the twentieth ring, Natsha opened her eyes. She flung her blankets onto the ground, wiped her tired eyes, and lifted herself from her bed. Her knee was still irritated when she twisted her legs out of the sheets.

5:49

"Too…early…" she moaned to herself. School didn't start until 8:20, yet she had some business to do.

She quickly dressed herself and threw on her jacket before leaving her room. Her phone was slipped into her jeans pocket and her bag was swung over her shoulder. When she came downstairs she heard him from the other room, moaning.

"Who the hell decided it was a good idea to invent alarm clocks," he blurted out.

"Sorry," she moaned with sleepiness and yawned. "Goin' out early, Igneel."

"Destroy that clock first."

"Kay." Another yawn left her mouth as she went into the kitchen and grabbed a pop tart, leaving her house finally.

Throughout the whole way there, she yawned and blinked her eyes. Every time she closed her eyes, it felt like weights were keeping them down. "I hate mornings…" she told herself. She lifted her hand up and pinched herself, hoping that would wake her up some.

Luckily, she was finally there before she could fall over and sleep for eternally. The back building was locked, but like everyone on the team, she had the key. She pressed it inside and turned it until it finally clicked. The door swung open, hitting the wall, and she walked inside. She was only grabbing a bat, ball, and baseball stand.

The baseball stand was only used for rookies, but it wasn't as if she had other people to practice with.

Natsha threw her bag in front of the door and went out into the field. She placed the stand in front of her and then the ball. She gripped the bat tightly in her hands and raised it up to her shoulder.

Her eyes were closed as she imagined.

People were behind her, cheering, their voices made the fence rattle. All she could see was heads of raven blue, vivid crimson, lighting blonde and vixen white.

Lyon was on second base, and Elfman was on first. Both of them were looking at her with faces full of hope; probably hoping for her to get a homerun. Their eyes looked at her as if depending on her hit.

More pressure.

The scoreboard was behind them. All they needed was two more points and then they would win the game.

More pressure.

Her grip on the bat tightens. Her hands started feeling stiff.

The pitcher rounded his shoulder and threw the ball. The ball came racing forward, aiming right at her.

Then, the whole dream went black. Silent.

She swung the bat forward.

It hit nothing.

Natsha opened her eyes and blinked. Her elbow made her wince, but she wasn't focusing much on it. She was focused on everything else. There were no runners, audience, or pitcher. It was only a clear field and the stand stood in front of her with the ball still in place.

"Idiot," she told herself.

Her chest heaved, her eyes focused on the target in front of her, her grip on the bat loosen, and she calmed herself.

There was no pressure.

She was the only one there. No one was depending on her getting this.

Lyon's voice echoed through her mind. And with little protest, she listened carefully and followed his pointers. Natsha moved her foot in front of the other, and allowed her bat to touch the ground. She counted down to three, when she got to three she raised her bat and swung.

The ball flew forward, the stand fell over, and she dropped her bat.

"Again," she told herself.

The ball was back in place, and she tried once more. Her body relaxed and she swung once more.

She didn't know how many times she swung, ran after the ball, and fell, but when she looked up, she knew it has been over an hour. She raised her hand up, her skin felt irritated but not as much as during the game, and wiped her eyes.

"You're here early," a man's voice called from behind her.

The pink haired turned around, facing a certain white haired pitcher. He already had a baseball in his hand, tossing it into the air and snatching it before it hit the ground. The door to the building was open, and another bag was next to hers.

She glanced from the building and back onto Lyon. It didn't take her long to connect the points. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long," he stated, "I thought I seen someone here so I came to see who." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Ah," she nodded, "Got here around 6."

"It's 7:30 now." He pointed to the parking lot, where a few slots were taken by teachers. His blue car stood out the most, with the sun gleaming down onto the window. "I'm guessing you are practicing for the next game?"

"Yeah."

"Nervous?" He questioned as he gotten into the pitcher position. Natsha moved the stand away and gotten back in her spot.

"No," she grumbled with a slight blush, puckered lips and avoided his stare; it was obliviously a lie. If she wasn't nervous, then she wouldn't go out of her way to train. Lyon could see this, but he didn't comment, instead he swung his arm around and threw the ball at her. She quickly raised the bat and sent it flying back towards him.

"Fix your stance," he reminded her as he went to get the ball.

And Natsha obeyed, her scrape touched her clothing and made her bit her lip. She should have wrapped it in a bandage. The pink haired gotten back into position and swung once more; the ball flew out onto the outfield.

This went back and forth, with him giving her small pointers until he bounced the ball onto the ground. "Come on," he moved away from the pitcher's mount. She gave him a confused glance and he only pointed towards the school, where the parking lot was practically filled and students were gathering. A few of them stood by the side of the building, watching the two practiced.

She finally understood, nodding, and went over to the equipment building. They dropped their items in the back with the others. Lyon wiped his forehead with a paper towel, throwing it in the trash, and Natsha lifted her hair up and tied it in a ponytail. The two of them exited the building and grabbed their backpacks.

"Same tomorrow?" He asked before moving out of the door.

She looked up from the ground and nodded, "Yup! I need as much help as I can get!"

Lyon snickered and looked away, "See ya." He went ahead of her, not even waiting for her to catch up, with his bag over one shoulder.

"Thanks," Natsha uttered loud enough for him to hear. That word felt weird coming from her mouth. She was use to insulting people so much that saying thanks was uncommon.

He glanced over his shoulder at her; his ice-blue eyes shined at her. His lips lifted into a kindly smile. "You're welcome, Natsha-san."

A smile.

She couldn't help but grin as well.

The people who were watching squealed as Lyon came close to them. They were all fan-girls, his fan-girls who followed his every move through school, yet they did not rage when Natsha walked by. Instead, they swoon. "So cute." They muttered together in a crowd.

"Did you see his smile?" One of them, with hot pink hair, asked, "I almost fainted~!" It was either Sherry or Chelia. From this distance, it was hard to tell the two cousins apart.

Natsha's smile turned into a sheepish grin.

When she entered the school, Lyon gotten mingled into the crowd and she went down the hallway by herself. Kids were gathered in front of the lockers, some of them talked to their teachers or walked into the classes. The walls were covered in posters, from the sports to plays.

She felt different this morning.

Was she just tired from the workout?

Yeah, she was just tired.

The pink haired shook the feeling away and roamed along the lockers. She paused in front of one of the classes, 104, glancing inside as if searching for someone. A raven-haired boy was lying on the desk while his friend was trying to get his attention. It sounded like he was moaning.

When she noticed what she was doing, she shook her head and went away.

Natsha walked down four classrooms, 108, and ended up running into Rogue and Sting; luckily Rogue took most of the blow and the other two didn't. The two of them stood outside of her classroom, chatting like best friends. Well, Rogue was listening while Sting rambled along about how his sister, Lucy, tried to dress him up in bows. Natsha couldn't wait until Lucy tried the same with Loke; that was definably something that she needed to take pictures of.

"Natsha-sama~!" Sting cheered as he fell back into the wall. He chuckled at himself as Natsha tried to rebalance herself.

"Hey Sting," she grinned and waved at Rogue, "Hey."

Rogue didn't seem to notice her greeting as he was focus on something else. "You're here?" Rogue questioned her. His left eye was covered by his black hair.

She raised her eyebrow, "Yeah? I've been for a while."

"Man, did you sleep in again?" Sting moaned, ignoring her comment; he was so used to hearing her usually excuse of missing the alarm. His shoulders slumped as he leaned against the wall and sighed. "I thought you were doing better."

"I told ya, I wasn't slee-"

Rogue stepped away from them, "I've to go." He nodded to them, like a goodbye, and moved away.

Natsha's eyes followed the black haired down the hallway until he disappeared into his class room. "What's his problem?"

Sting shrugged. "Dunno. I thought he came here to talk to me… but he kept glancing into our class. Rogue-kun's weird." He took her wrist and whisked her inside of their classroom. Lisanna was sitting her seat, doodling on a piece of paper. When she heard footsteps, she turned to see who it was.

"Natsha-chan~!" She jolted from her seat and hugged Natsha. "I thought you were sick!" And this was when Lisanna decided to sneeze. "Sorry," she covered her nose with a tissue.

"Eh? Me sick?" Natsha snickered. "Only in cars, dude." And even that was something she barely admits.

"Well, Gray-kun said you weren't there. So I thought you had-" Lisanna sneezed once more, "Had to go to the hospital."

"Oh, I was practicing with Lyo-"

"You were?" Both of her friends chorused, interrupting their friend before she could finish.

"Yeah?" She lifted her eyebrow and moved her chair out, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Sting shook his head.

"You should have at least told Gray-kun… Text him or something…" Lisanna mumbled. She was looking away from Natsha, since anything about Gray was usually her trigger word. The only time that Natsha even used her phone was too get some answers on the homework, but she could still use it to update them or something.

"Why should I tell that bastard?" For some odd reason, she felt a little angry at Gray, and she forgotten why in the first place. Just the sound of his name made her happiness fades away.

"He's your alarm clock," Sting stated, since he knew any other relationship status would cause Natsha to lash out. He was also looking away, staring at his fingers. "Dude's been wasting his time waiting for your ass."

Both of them were waiting for her outburst. It should come at any moment.

"Who cares? No one told him too." She threw her backpack on the table and turned her focus away from her friends. Her lips puckered out into a pout, angry about the fact they were talking about that cold bastard.

Sting and Lisanna turned to each other. "Text the poor boy," the blonde whispered.

"I wonder how long he waited… I found him outside her house this morning..." Lisanna gotten out her phone, which was still logged into FairyTail; she clicked onto Gray's name and started typing. '_You don't have to wait for Natsha-chan anymore. She won't be there in the mornings.'_

"Don't mention anything about Lyon." Sting whispered, glancing around the room for any of Lyon's fan-girls. If one even dares to talk about their ice king, they would surround and scream insults. They were not a group to make enemies of, unless if you were Natsha, who enjoyed to rally anyone up. At least Sting knew his own fan-girls were too timid to do such a thing.

Lisanna gulped, her eyes widen, looking at the blonde. "Wait, you knew?"

"I can put two and two together," he smirked, yet Lisanna still had a look of disbelief. "I'm not that dumb, sheesh."

They glanced at Natsha, who was now drooling on her desk. Her forehead was glisten in sweat, as well as the roots of her pink hair.

"Poor Gray-san/-kun…" They both whispered in weariness.

She bit her bottom lip in a ping of envy, luckily for her, her phone rang at that exact moment and that ugly feeling vanished from the pit of her stomach. She glanced down to her lap, where her phone was, lifted her head and made eye contact with Sting. She did not want to answer it. If it was Gray, then she had to lie.

Sting shared her concern.

She bit her lips and unlocked her phone. It wasn't Gray, luckily, but her brother. She sighed in relief and answered him back.

"I hope these idiots know how much we help them," Sting leaned back in his seat and moaned. "Maybe that's why Rogue-san was waiting outside." He paused for a moment and clicked his tongue, "And I thought he actually wanted to talk to me for once. That punk."

"You should have started the conversation about Lector-kun, he would have been glued to that spot."

"Man, I thought the thing with Luc would have at least gotten him to laugh. I'm starting to think Lector's the only reason he even notices my presence."

"Maybe if we get Gray-kun a cat, then Natsha-chan would notice him…"

"Maybe a white cat?"

"Too bad there aren't any blue ones…"

"Why blue? There's no such thing as a blue cat."

"It suits Natsha-chan better." Lisanna turned to her friend and patted her head, "Plus, how is pink hair natural?"

Natsha, awaken by the pat, lifted her head and gazed around the room. "Wh-Where am I?" She yawned and stretched her arms back, "So tired… Need sleep… Night…" She leaned her head back and quickly closed her eyes.

**Alright, since some people were asking about the black book, here's an entry:  
><strong>

_Cana_

_(693)555-9035_

_Bring lots of booze. Usually around her 34th barrel, she's wants anything that moves; best chance to get laid. Has melons (bout a DD). Don't gamble. Especially when it comes to poker... I'm still in debt because of that... Don't bring Mirajane/Erza up._

**Practically, it's just Loke's journal with brief info bout the girls. If you enjoyed those types of things, I may have a story up which is basically Loke getting laid with every girl in Fiore, and he writes about it and other shit. Course, ending with him getting with Lucy... Or...I could expand it and add the guys as well...just for laughs... Tell me if you would like this idea. Cuz I'm already enjoying it.  
><strong>

**AsDarknessSpreads: _'Measure sizes of dream pple!'_ Could you explain that? I have no clue what you are talking about there. Unless if you are talking about _"It was no juicy_ _details about one of his nightmares or wet dreams, but a page with girl's names..."_ It's Loke's journal (in the fourth chapter, Loke asked Gray to hold onto his book since he's with Lucy and doesn't need it). So, these were not Gray's dreams (Natsha thought it was his diary at first, thinking it would be filled with such), but Loke's actual experiences..which Natsha mistakes for Gray's own experiences (that same chapter, Igneel commented that if Natsha was looking for a virgin, Gray's the closest). Gray completely forgotten about the book (plus, he was just given the book that day, during first period). Hopefully this explained it!  
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**darkhuntressxir: You're talking about the entry that Natsha read, right? Well, just for an example, I used Cana (I wrote it in the beginning of this author note).  
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**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: I just couldn't think of any names for a wolf, so I just used Luka cuz...well...I always use that.  
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**Danizinhachan: Well, there are more misunderstandings along the way. I enjoy writing his character and Ur's. Let's just say that Lisanna has a bigger part soon...if I know how to write it... I MISS HIS LONG HAIR! It only lasted for one chapter and now it's gone! T_T I'm really starting to hate Cancer. Everytime a character changes their hair, he changes it back. And I'm kinda mad that Lucy's was tryin' to guilt-trip Natsu in the newest chapter (I get she's mad for him leaving her, but everyone did their own thing). It's Natsu! And..man... You want 'I REALLY WANT TO READ A FATHER/SON FI BY D YOU OM KYAH O' Man...that's a hard request to fulfill... I mean... How is a GNAMA gonna get along with Natsu and KYAHO? Huh?  
><strong>

**firelass19: I think I've said this before, but this story is mostly slice of life with little fillers. Right now we are at the ripping them apart stage, so we will see the other side soon. Got about seven more chapters done, with six of them about their time apart; this is where Lyon gets his chance to shine. This will not be an eternal love triangle (by Micheal jackson, I hate those). And, there will be more pairings besides LokeLucy and Natsu/Gray/Lyon... Let's just say, Lisanna is in a different love triangle (sort of). Her crush loves someone else and someone may or may not love her... So, yes, there will be lots of final pairings... Well...kinda... You'll see at the ending... Don't worry, no one dies.  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 7

When the bell rang, everyone jolted out of their seats and towards the door. Natsha, not much of a waiter, stood on top of her desk and jumped right in front of the crowd.

The one thing that she didn't think of was now she had to wait for her friends, who were in no hurry to get out. As soon as Natsha saw sight of Sting and Lisanna, she moaned. "So slow," she complained.

"I'm really about to force you into a car," Sting grumbled under his breath. And, just as he planned, Natsha winced at that accursed word. "So, practice again?"

"Always," Lisanna answered with a small cough, "I can't wait until the weekend; it seems like the only time where I'm not fighting against time. And I feel like I need a nap."

"You know, you don't have to go to Elfman-san's and Natsha-sama's game everyday. Heck, I can get a ride for us and go see a movie instead."

"And you don't have to talk either~!" Lisanna replied in her sister's infamous singsong voice.

Natsha, finally recovered, lifted her gaze to her two best friends. She was about to speak when another voice interrupted.

Their teacher, the infamous Minerva who rumored to mess around with highschool boys, stood behind them. Her hand was on Lisanna's shoulder, the dark purple nail polish gleamed off from the hallway lights. "Strauss-san," she called, "May I have a word with you?"

The white haired looked between her friends, who were avoiding her hopeful gaze and biting their lower lip, until she sighed, "Yes, Orlando-sensei." With slight pause, glancing at her friends once more, Lisanna moved away and into the classroom.

"Do you think…?" Sting started to say, but he couldn't find the right words. He knew the rumors; not because he wanted to hear them, but because everyone talked about them. He remembered when someone started the rumor of him and Rogue with her, which was a complete lie. Everyone knew that Rogue only liked cats, not the fake thing.

But, some of those rumors were still true.

Just because Lisanna was a girl didn't mean that Minerva wouldn't bite.

"No…Teach isn't gay, right?"

"Yeah…but still... Sensei has never really been the one to hold us afterclass… Well, except to torture us with tons of homework."

Natsa looked at their classroom and shook her head. "Goodbye, good friend!"

"And so…you just leave her?"

"Eh, as long as her notebook survives, it's alright."

"Her wolf probably already ate it…That's why you should be like me. Don't even need a notebook when I got it all down in my head! There's no chance of it getting lost or even eaten!" Sting started bragging as the two walked down the hallway and to the main doors.

"We get the same grade on tests."

"Oh, shut up already." The blonde moaned as he hide his blush behind his arm, folding them behind his head. "Guess I'm walkin' ya to practice then, not that I'm waiting for a ride or anything."

"Does everyone believe I'll get lost if I'm left alone for a moment?"

Sting stared into her brown sparklingly eyes and nodded, "Yup. It was one of the many topics we discussed in the meeting."

"Meeting?"

"Yup, bout our favorite Natsha-sama!"'

"I really worry about you and Lisanna…"

Sting stopped himself short from listing the other members of the group, such as Gray. For some unknown reason, that name just sets Natsha off today. He was going to ask Lisanna if anything happened yesterday because there was a lot of distanced between the two of them now.

Once Sting walked her to the baseball field, he said goodbye and went on his merry way. ANd Natsha quickly went in and changed, while the others gotten the equidment ready. Elfman was completely a kluntz at the time, wondering where the hell his sister gone to.

Once the game started, Lisanna appeared. She didn't say why the teacher held her back, but her backpack was larger than normally, so that was pretty much a clue.

…

Gray did not go to her practice that day, or today. Instead, the heartbroken boy was pulled into a blind date by his annoying friend. Even Rogue couldn't save Gray from Loke's devilish plan.

As soon as the orange haired heard about Natsha's disappearance that one morning, he decided that Gray needed a night of fun, to get Gray from his depressed state.

Oh, Loke was so wrong.

After school, as soon as he gotten out of his classroom, his wrist was grabbed by his good ol' buddy, Loke, and forced to follow him out of the entrance of the building. "Come on, Lucy…" Loke uttered and tapped his foot onto the ground.

Lisanna, Sting, and Natsha left the building. Sting was waving them goodbye and went to the sidewalk. Lisanna and Natsha started to head behind the building, but Lisanna caught Gray's face through the crowd. She stopped walking before Natsha tugged on her arm, not noticing Gray at all, and made her walk forward.

Gray bit his lip, hoping that his disappearance wasn't missed.

Actually, he did hope Natsha would mind. At least a little.

He always knew she would never notice his disturbing feelings, but she still thought of him as a friend, right? That should make Natsha miss him some…right?

He sighed and leaned against the building. Why the hell did he have to mind about these small details? Why was he always following her lead and getting nowhere? Why the hell did he like someone who didn't even want him near?

Love was about mutual feelings.

He loved her for years.

Natsha hated his guts.

What a happy couple.

Maybe this was the reason why he didn't protest much against Loke's idea. He should have knew he was only bugging Natsha in the first place. The girl didn't even remember him half of the time.

She didn't ask him to walk her home.

She didn't ask him to come to practice.

She didn't ask him to walk her to school.

He always told himself that he needed to take the first step that he couldn't wait for her to ask him, but maybe that's what he should have done. He was the only one who felt anything.

This was apparent after how she reacted two days, when she pulled away from him at last minute. He didn't even do anything to her, yet she was angry.

She did not want to see him anymore. She did not even want to remember him.

That thought rang through his head, over and over.

Rogue exited the building, glancing at his friend, pitifully, before climbing onto the bus.

Lucy was the next one to come out. She stood there in front of two, "Hey Loke-kun…" Her face was practically red, "Gray-san…"

"Gray, this is Lucy. Lu-chan, this is the idiot. He's from Joya, so a slap in the face is considered as a greeting."

"You just told your girlfriend that I'm allowed to slap her."

"Uh…" Loke blinked in confusion, "That I did not think of. But, Lucy-chan is still allowed to smack you, but you aren't. Is that better?"

A tick mark appeared on her forehead at Loke's broken logic.

"Just shut up," Gray groaned, "You're making a fool of yourself."

"Anything about Lucy-chan makes me into a fool."

He glanced over at the blonde girl, "Should I be concerned about him?"

"Probably."

He sucked his lips in and nodded.

"Hey, you're just grumpy." Loke pointed his finger at Gray.

Lucy raised her hand, "Is it…true?"

"What?" Both of them asked.

"That…Natsha-san is avoiding you for Lyon-san?"

"Luchan!" Sting tried to quickly cover her mouth.

Gray rolled his eyes and stepped away. "Are we going or not? I've other things to do, y'know." Which was a lie. All he had to do was mope around his house and throw college brochures into the trash.

She bowed her head with a blush on her cheeks, wishing she didn't mention anything about it. Gray paused in middle of his step, and glanced back.

"What did you mean by Lyon?"

"She was…" She bit her bottom lip, hoping that Sting would decide to interrupt her, but he was lost in his own thoughts. "She's been seeing him in the mornings… I thought you knew..."

Gray lifted his eyebrow. This was complete news to him. Mostly because Rogue has been blocking any mentions of Natsha since that morning, unlike Loke, who always found the worst of times to talk about topics.

As soon as Lucy saw his face, her stomach filled with guilt. "Sorry I mention it at all." She chewed one of her fingernails. It was already bad that she was already nervous finally meeting one of Loke's friends after dating for awhile.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Loke tried to calm her; "He's just being emotional. Probably on his period."

Lucy mumbled, "Being emotional isn't a bad thing…"

"Course, I'm full of emotions whenever I'm around you~!"

Gray blinked, nonchalantly, and said, "Horny and idiotically." Loke practically asked for it to be said.

Lucy froze in place. Her eyes were wide. Her skin was pale except for her redden cheeks. When she unfroze, she folded her arms over her breasts.

Loke almost swallowed his tongue. "Wh- You bastard!" He turned to Lucy, with his forehead sweating, and held his arms out. "Please don't listen to that idiot. He doesn't have a clue what he's saying."

She, still shaken, bit her lower lip and nodded. "Come on. Let's just go…"

Loke walked up to his car, and pulled opened the passenger's door for Lucy, he turned to Gray and smirked. "Like this beauty? Got it two weeks ago."

"And it took you this long to brag about it?"

Loke paused, raised his finger, "Get in the car. When I'm going 80 mph, I will kick you out and I hope you have your seatbelt on, because I want to drag you down the roadway until you're skinned alive. Now, please, zip your mouth and let's have fun today. No one likes a grump, and this is a favor from me. You don't know how many strings I had to pull on this short notice."

He paused as Lucy's door closed, "My lady is in the car so please no vulgar language and let's have a good time. This is the first time we have hanged out in a while and I really want to remember this as one of those stories to tell our kids. _'You know how your uncle Gray met Auntie? Well, your good ol' dad had to drag him to this fast food joint on a blind date. As soon as the two made eye contact, it was love.'_ Or do you want to tell them this version? _'Your Uncle Gray decided to go ape shit, raised an army to kill all of the girls on Earth, and that's why he still single, and everyone else. Now kids, don't ever grow up like him, who deemed humanity to end_.' Now, please, decide before I have to drag you across town and get blood all over my new seatbelts."

Gray, a little unnerved by Loke's sudden change from the happy-go-lucky boy into this, blinked. His cheeks fused in anger and his fist went to his side. "How long has it taken you to think of that? You do know if all of the girls were killed…then you wouldn't have kids…"

"Always a party pooper." Loke took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I understand what you are going through, she was your childhood's crush, and she ditched you. I've gone through the same, you remember Erza, right? I was a mess, but I pulled through. I didn't want to drag others down. So, I'm trying everything in my power to help you through. You're my best friend, I don't want to see you like this, where I can't even talk to you, like Rogue, but that's a different story. So please, let's forget this whole mess, and let's laugh, sing, and have fun. Let's do what makes you happy. Whatever you decide, I'll be supporting you and Rogue's obsession with his cat. I'm not saying that you should bottle your emotions, I'm saying that don't drag innocent people into it. I'll take Lucy-chan home, and you can rant all you want to me if that's what you need. We don't have to go to the blind date; I only did it because I wanted you to remember there are other girls than Natsha. Just tell me what you want, man. That's all I'm asking."

Gray stood there flabbergasted. He didn't know if he should feel glad or still angry at his blonde friend.

"I know I can be pushy, but Gray, you are the coldest bastard ever. If I don't push, then will sit alone in your house all day and if you died, then no one would know. I don't want you to turn into that. You have been having it rough, so let's take a breather."

"I will go."

"No," Loke shook his head, "Let me rephrase. Let's do what you want to do. I'll call off the date, I'll drop off Lucy. Just let me hear the word."

"I feel like bowling."

"Now, here's the question, with who?"

"Don't cancel."

Loke smirked to himself and elbowed Gray. "Now, let's go. Juvia-chan will love you, so pucker up."

"Is it too late to cancel?"

"What happened to 'don't cancel?' Are you sure you aren't a girl, because you are really giving me mixed messages."

"I rather keep my lips virginal."

Loke's eyes double in size. He bent over and filled the parking lot with his laughter. "LIPS VIRGINAL! You're killin' me, man!"

"Shut up," Gray rolled his eyes.

"Wait, can I tell Luchan? She will love this!" He snickered to himself.

"You just shouted it through the whole parking lot. I'm sure everyone heard."

"So, that's a yes?"

His eyes were cold.

"No? You are a cold bastard."

"You're the one who picked me as a friend."

"Don't I just make the best decisions?"

**I feel like every chapter I'm saying this... Sorry I'm making all of the guys such wimps. Loke's a lovestuck idiot, while Lucy's bashful about the whole thing. Gray's too awkward and grumpy.  
><strong>

**darkhuntressxir: Poor Gray in every chapter. **

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Jealousy. **

**KarouUchiha: :P**

**AsDarknessSpreads: She's a girl who doesn't know how to handle emotions, and Gray's a boy who overthinks at the worst of times.**


	8. Chapter 8

Gray clawed into the doorway. The car behind him honked, a girl rolled down the window and squealed a goodbye. He moaned and pushed the door opened. His body dropped onto the ground.

Never again.

He wanted to kill Loke.

The one time that Loke actually made sense almost led him to an embarrassing death. The whole date was filled with him fucking up. His cheeks were now stained red from the numerous times he blushed.

His phone fell onto the floor. He reached down and whipped it out. It has been turned off for the last two days since he saw that message.

Gray flipped his phone open.

No messages.

One event.

No friend request.

He sighed in relief for once, but it didn't last long because he pressed on the event.

_'Lisanna invited you to Natsha's baseball game. Do you Accept or Ignore.'_

He knew the girl meant well. Hell, she was probably felt bad for him and decided to mend the wound herself. But, like Loke said, he needed a breather. He can't think about Natsha.

He threw his phone, and it slid under the couch, hitting his laptop. And quickly, he regretted it. His phone rang once more. It was Rogue's ringtone that went '_Meow~ Meow~ Blood~ Meow~'_

Remember, this is Rogue. Any calls that Gray gotten was either important or updates.

Gray scrambled onto his feet and grabbed his phone, answering the phone call. "Yo?"

'_Gray,'_ Rogue's soft voice answered.

"What's up?"

_'How was your…date?'_

"Never again."

Rogue sighed on his side of the phone call. '_Should have known._' There was some silence before Rogue decided to add something else. '_Saturday, we are going out to the mall.'_

"Are you really asking me out on a date?"

'_Boy's night, not a date. Me, you, and Loke.'_

Gray allowed the silence to stretch before saying, "Thanks man."

_'Tell that to Loke.'_

"Yeah...kinda blew up at me today."

_'If I was in his shoes, I would've done the same.'_

He snickered and the phone call ended. He may not have a girlfriend, but he had friends that would kill him if it meant ending his misery. He grabbed his laptop and headed into his room.

For once, he felt at peace.

College brochures from Dragneel University were crippled into balls that sat outside of the trashcan

A single brochure hanged over his desk. Fullbuster University. The other college that offered courses close to his interests. His bag fell on top of his blankets and he sat down on the beanbag chair.

A black book tumbled out from one of the pockets.

It didn't take Gray long to recognize it as Loke's book, full of girls' phone numbers and smells that lasted from fourth grade. A book that Loke never went without, at least until he met Lucy. He picked up the rotten book and tossed inside one of his drawers. As long as it wasn't out in the open, then there was little chance of losing it.

He totally forgotten he had it in his backpack. There's been too much shit on his mind to even think about it.

Gray already guessed that Juvia's number was in there as well.

Loke knew all kinds of chicks.

He laid his head backwards, stretching out his legs.

…

She closed her door stridently. It didn't take long for her to hear Igneel's moans on the other side of the door. A pleased smile formed on her face, along with a snicker, as she turned around. Instead of feeling guilty for waking him at such a strange hour, she only felt accomplished. With a small smirk, she turned around and glanced down the street as if looking for someone; a ghost maybe?

The girl had another practice with Lyon, just right before one of their games. She couldn't thank him enough for sparing some time for her.

She was walking for a while when a car strolled by, and as soon as the driver seen her, he rolled into a stop. His window rolled down, revealing his icy white hair and those cold, distanced, cerulean eyes.

Lyon.

"Natsha."

His voice woke her up from her foggy thoughts. She glanced up, blinking until she found the source of the noise. "Lyon!" She said with a certain amount of alertness and tiredness.

"Get in." He waved his thumb halfheartedly at the passenger door.

Natsha obeyed.

She hastily regretted that decision.

As soon as the car started to roll once more, her stomach rotated on its sides. Her arm swiftly pressed against her belly, holding whatever breakfast she had in.

He side-glanced her with a raised eyebrow, yet she did not notice. His face lined with a hint of uncertainly and concern. "Something wrong?" In those few seconds of not watching the road, a clueless, furry animal went out onto the cement to grab an acorn.

The car jerked in time; allowing a squirrel to cross the street unharmed.

Natsha's body jerked as well. Her fingers went to the door handle, searching for the window before she could barf.

"Natsha! What's wro-" Lyon pressed on the break without any waver and the two jolted against the dashboard. Natsha pushed opened the door and fell onto the pavement. She was ready to barf at any moment…but her stomach settled down. Instead of throwing up, she only burped.

"Never… Again…" She rolled to her side and held onto her lower chest.

Lyon closed his door and went to her side, kneeling. He raised the back of his hand against her forehead. "Were you sick? A cold? Fever?"

"Mo…tion…sickness…"

His shoulders slumped. "Why…didn't you inform me before you gotten into the car? Why…did you get in the car…?"

"Cuz I'm Natsha…" She burped once more, and slowly raised her head up. Usually it was Gray who kept her from these kinds of situations. And without him here, she was her own enemy.

Gray...

Her stomach lurched once more, but nothing came.

Lyon, awkwardly, patted her back. "Where's your house?"

"I'm fine," she shook her head and slowly lifted herself from the ground. Her knees felt weak, but other than that, she felt fine. As long as she did not think about Gray or any vehicles.

The white haired took a hold of her hands, supporting her, until she could balance herself. As soon as he took his hand away, Natsha's body fell in his direction. He caught her in time, her head lying against his chest. His arms were wrapped around her. "It's down this street, right?" He nodded his head to where she was walking from.

Natsha gave a small nod.

The two repositioned themselves with Natsha leaning onto Lyon for support. Slowly, the two made their way down the street. When they gotten close to her house, she tugged on his shoulder and chimed her head towards her house.

It took him no time to get her o the doorstep. After several loud knocks, a man appeared on the other side. He yawned, with his eyes still closed, and the yawn slowly turned into an irritated growl. "What the hell do you w-" His eyes, now widen, landed onto his own flesh and blood. "Natsha?"

"I got into a car…" She moaned.

Igneel glanced at her companion, and only saw that it was a boy. "Why didn't Gray-kun stop you?"

"Hm?" Lyon raised his head. It was plain as day that he was quizzical; probably the only emotion he allowed to be shown.

"Gr-" Igneel finally raised his sights away from the moaning merit onto the boy, who he know noticed had white hair, not raven blue, and slit eyes that looked as if he was part snake. "You're not Gray-kun…"

"I'm the pitcher on the baseball team, Lyon."

After a few clicks in his foggy mind, he came to a conclusion. He looked at Natsha with a defeated frown and memory-fogged eyes. "Y-You have a boyfriend this whole time? How haven't I noticed?" His fingers clawed through his red locks of hair, "You had it planned perfectly! Your meetings in the morning, when you know for a fact that I don't even know my name before 10!"

"Igneel," Natsha raised a weak hand to stop him.

"Whose that? Oh, I knew this day would come!" Igneel hammered his fists onto the doorframe. Lyon stood oddly by, with flustered cheeks and darting eyes.

"I'm not her boyfri-" He tried to cut in, but Igneel's outbursts caused his voice to go unnoticed.

Finally, Natsha flicked him on the forehead.

"Ouchie momma!" The father yelped as he shielded his forehead from another flick, glaring at his dangerous daughter. "Can't you give your father any mercy?"

"I don't even like any boys," Natsha stated with her tongue sticking out to the side. "Lyon's just helping me with my practices, that's it." The way that she said those last two words made Lyon tensed a little. Luckily, his blush started to fade away, not that the other two would have noticed seeing as how they were wrapped up in a debate.

"Don't argue against my gut's feeling."

"But he's not! I don' like him!"

"Then who is he?"

"One of my nakama. A teammate on my team."

Didn't Lyon after state that fact only a moment ago? Well, it seems like both of them forgotten his presence in the first place. What felt like forever, he took a step between them and made a small bow with his head towards Igneel. "I am sorry for this. I had no clue that she had motion sickness." He turned to the girl before either one of them could start fighting once more. "And I hope you will get better."

And with that, he finally left the house and returned to his car. Without Natsha there, there was little reason for him to head to school. He promptly turned his car around and started for his own house. All through the way, he had a small, sheepish grin plastered onto his face.

**Alright...I wasn't expecting this reaction. I really thought I would get more complaints about Gray being so emotional (cuz at first, Natsha only stopped talking to him because of the morning practices, all of the other shit such as her leaving him behind and finding his notebook was added so that there would feel like the two had the right reasons for avoiding each other). So, this piece was written before I added those scenes. Sorry I made Natsha so...bitchy. I just suck with making reasons for the two to fight, so I use her obliviousness overboard to make the story longer. I corrected this mistake in three chapters from now. I hope you all will continue to that point, where we start seeing Natsha noticing things and her wrongdoings, as well as more Gratus moments. **

**AsDarknessSpreads: She's going to change soon. Man, haven't you notice? This story was MADE for LokeGray! Duh! XD But I'm starting to feel like Loke's the love interest and Sting's his lil wannabe (I'm so close on making a whole chapter about these two hanging out and exchanging mixtapes). **

**darkhuntressxir: Give her three chapters, she's slow. She notices, but at the same time, she's so used to Gray just being there without her doing anything. I'm trying to do 'you don't know how much you love something until you notice it's missing' but it ended up poorly and I'm sorry for my mistake. **

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Juvia's basically the filler for any love rivals in Gratus. **

**firelass19: He's Loke, of course he's the best. Strange, Lisanna was suppose to be the cute one...but now she's acting like the best friend/support character. Lucy doesn't have much impact on the story, so most of her lines are just couple cute stuff with Loke. Totally intended. Natsha...yeah, seems like everyone is feeling that way. I've altered the story so that I can correct this. So, hopefully you will continue for three more chapters...that's when Rogue has a great scene.**

**Thank you for your feedback. If you feel any of the characters are OOC or plain out annoying, just tell me. This is the first time I've done Slice of Life and focusing heavily on romance, that personalities tend to change for the worst. I really thought the main problem of the story was Gray and his weakness around Natsha, that I didn't notice the problem was Natsha. So, I've added more to the story and I hope ya'll will keep reading. I still got the last game to write, as well as a dance and the big ending. **


	9. Chapter 10

His arm shot up from resting on his hip to over his head within seconds. The ball slammed into it, but he didn't flinch. Natsha stood on the pitcher's mount, a sinister smile on her face. But, as soon as she saw Lyon straighten up and his lips droopy, her smile vanish. "With that aim, you would be hitting the batter. Aim lower, focus on my count, and try to not look like an evil mastermind."

This was their new practice. Natsha's batting skills improved, but now he was working on her throwing skills. And what better practice for her other than pretending to be pitcher? Lyon was certainly not the best pitcher in the world, nor was he the best batter, but since he was the team's pitcher this type of training was simple to teach her. All she had to do was throw the ball and catch it. If she gotten better than this, then he would move on to having them run around and catch the ball back and forth.

It wasn't that hard of practice, but it was lengthier than their afternoon practices with coach. That was the main challenge. Not getting tired out before practice was over. At least when they practiced with coach, they played against each other on teams, or coach would work on a basic skill: speed, batting, throwing, and some fun activities in between.

Lyon carefully threw the ball back. She stepped back two paces and caught it with both hands. They continued this cycle until the sun raised above them.

Since they started their morning practices, a few brave souls decided to watch them right before school started. By the time that Natsha was able to catch with one hand and gotten the position down, his fan-girls and other people stood behind the building and stared. They kept a distance, because this was Lyon who practically sent a death glare at everyone, so none of them could hear the two.

The white haired returned the ball, the only equipment they needed, and came back out. He glanced over at the crowd of girls, "School's starting in ten minutes." Like everyone else, he knew about his fan club but he ignored them, but it still sent the fan-girls into a heart attack.

"He glanced at me~! Omg~!" The hot pink haired, Chelia, jumped up with a squeal.

"No, he glanced at me!"

"They really like watching us practice," Natsha commented, not understanding that they were only watching because of Lyon.

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged, he rather talk about a different subject other than his stalkers. Something popped into his head; something that he meant to ask about before but there was hardly any chance. "Are you ready for baseball season's end?"

"Two more games... Not really." She moaned at the thought. She felt like the season only started, but now it was gone in the blink of an eye.

"So... Are you doing anything after the game this Saturday?"

"Eh, probably some homework." She shrugged her shoulders. She really hoped that Minerva didn't assign any. She was already behind as it was, so adding more to the pile would only drown her faster. "Why?"

"Figured we could hang out. I have an extra ticket to this movie, so you want to come with?"

"Hmm...alright. What's the movie?"

"A cowboy movie with alien guns." Lyon was really hopeless when it came to picking out movies. He just went with Toby's suggestion since he was all out of ideas. It was this, or that world famous Gajeel movie...and that movie just gave him the creeps.

"Oh, you mean Bisca's Wound! I heard about it from Sting. Heard it was a good one."

Inside of his head, he secretly thanked Toby.

"And," she raised a finger, a determined grin on her face, "You're paying for the food."

He had a feeling that he was going to have a nightmare after seeing the bill.

Happy thoughts. He scored a date with Natsha. Yeah, that's right.

But...that bill... It's gonna cost him an arm and a leg... He may even have to resort to stuffing Toby into an armored suit for no reason.

Lyon had to admit, he kinda liked the latter idea.

And, as if Toby knew Lyon was thinking about him, the boy popped up in the middle of the fan-girl club and waved. He hurried across the field, fell and hit his face, got up, and fell once more.

The white haired only blinked. A vein pulsed in his forehead. Instead of an armored suit, Toby needed a metal helmet.

Though Lyon was embarrassed, Natsha was snickering.

...

Gray sat there in his room, busying himself with idle tasks before Loke gotten there. The college letters were finally picked up and thrown away, instead of being left there. His backpack was thrown in the back corner. This was a three-day weekend; he didn't have to bother with the work today.

Today was a breather. Something he well deserved after these torturous days. Really, he was starting to believe that everyone and their momma were out for his ass.

Well, out of all of the people in the world, he was most worried about prisoner inmates.

Just the thought of his abused bottom made him cringed.

He clicked his phone on, checking the time once again, and pressed on a random app, hoping that Loke would hurry up for once in his life.

The doorbell rang, his ears chimed, and he jolted out of his room. He raced towards the door, almost sliding when he reached the rug, and stood in front of the cedar door. He took a calming breath before opening the door, ready to see Loke and Rogue there.

Neither of them stood there.

Instead, a lone girl stood there. Her hands were behind her back as she looked at the ground.

Lisanna.

"Hey Lisanna…?"

She blinked, not noticing the boy at first, and raised her hand. "Gray-kun~!" Her voice, which was usually lighthearted and tame, sounded strange. It sounded cautious and uncertain; something that was unlike Lisanna. And her cheeks even started to redden just from the mere sight of Gray. He was moments away from calling Elfman to take her to the hospital; her sickness was well known throughout the school. Just the simple sniff from a flower could send her into a flu.

"What's up?" His voice was uncertain with those thoughts running through his head.

"I was wondering…" She glanced around, avoiding his gaze, wondering how she could phase this, and then she finally sighed and came out with her question. "Are you coming to Natsha-chan's game?"

Today was Saturday, the second to last game of Fiore's Bobcats, their baseball team, and they were going against Highland's Ravens. It felt like baseball season only started, yet it was well over now.

Gray readjusted himself and avoided her light blue eyes that could make him feel guilty with a single glance; finally, he opened his mouth to answer. "No, I'm not." Those words felt like a cannon. He has done his best to avoid Lisanna and Natsha since that day; leaving early and riding with Loke. He didn't want to deject them. Nor did he want to be reminded of those painful feelings that lurked in the depths of his stomach.

Lisanna's smile vanished within that second, and she looked like a fragile glass figurine. A single touch and she would break. "I understand," she nodded and paused for a season. Her eyes finally peered into his. "Is it…about Lyon-kun…?"

That name was lemon to his ears. Out of instinct, he got protection and talked louder than he meant too. "Why the hell would I care about that bastard?"

"I thou-" When she saw his face, she did not want to continue that sentence, "Nevermind, Gray-kun. I didn't mean to bother you…I just haven't been able to see you lately, and Natsha-chan was wondering." She started licking her lips from saying that last line. Lisanna was never a good liar, and truthfully, Natsha hasn't say a word about Gray. But, she felt that if she told him the truth, he would be heartbroken.

"It's for the best," he shrugged. Finally saying that out loud felt like a load off his shoulders, but it also felt like a lie.

"See you on Tuesday then," she nodded, her head slumped, and left his doorstep.

Gray waited there on his doorstep, watching the girl's form moving farther away until she paused on the last step.

She turned around, with a painful frown on her small face that forced into a smile, and called out to him. "Everyone's cheering for you!"

"Huh?"

She left without any other words, leaving him quizzical.

He repeated those four words over and over again in his mind.

She couldn't possibility mean about his love for Natsha?

Right?

What other meanings could it be if that wasn't it?

He wasn't doing anything life-changing. The most he has done for other people was allowing them to copy his work.

Gray smashed his fist into the doorframe. Just when he thought he could go a day without upsetting feelings, she had to come and leave him uncertain about everything.

After a sigh, he entered his house once more and leaned against the wall. His legs slide under him, his head banged into the wall.

Why did her voice sound strained?

Why did she wear a force smile?

Was she worried for his sake and tried to fake it?

He hammered his forehead with his palm.

Girls were too complex, and he's saying this while still passing College Algebra.

The doorbell rang throughout the house. He looked up at the white door before he lifted himself up. Who was this gonna be? Natsha with another unpredicted fit? Lyon with a declaration of challenge? Sting with his gym bag? Loke with a hottub of nursing home patients?

He steadied himself and wrapped his hand around the bronze doorknob and slowly opened the door.

Rogue stood there with a one-shouldered bag with Fro's head peeking out from it. The cat meowed at him, almost a greeting. How the cat was managed to grow this big was beyond him. He could remember when the thing could fit in Loke's hands, who had the smallest hands that almost everyone thought they were girl hands.

He really needed to use the peephole before assuming.

Gray gave up a tired sigh and lifted his hand in a weak greeting; which Rogue returned with a weaker nod. "Give me a sec," he left the boy in the doorway until he came back with his jacket and wallet.

"Ready?" The black haired boy questioned with a single blink.

"Ready," he nodded and tapped Fro's head, harshly. "Meo!"

Just as soon as Gray popped his head out of the doorway, Loke honked his car's horn. "You had all day to prepare! I don't care if your hair's wet!" He turned around and stared at Gray's form. "Oh…you're out…"

"This is gonna be a long day…"

"You're right about that!" Loke pressed on the horn once more, "I got a list of places, and we aren't stoppin' until ya droppin'!"

Gray glanced behind him, to Rogue, and pointed his thumb at the madman behind the wheel. "Has he been like th-"

"The whole way here." Rogue admitted regretfully. His head was downcast as he swiped his fingers through his cat's fur. She gently purred against his brush.

"If he tries to sell me his mixtape…I'm gonna pop him."

"Please do."

**After the newest chapter of Fairy Tail, I remember why I still followed this series. All because of one single character. The greatest of all kind. Toby. XD Man, I remember this one mission, called T.O.B.Y, in Fable 2 where you had to get this neckbeard a pie, a lady...I hated this mission. **

**darkhuntressxir: Well, now he has a date with the guys...hopefully this ends better. Lyon's always been interested since he's been introduced. And yeah, I made Igneel and Ur both cool parents...since we basically know anything about them other than Igneel fights a lot with Natsha and Ur strips. **

**BunnieLeSmiths: Thank you! I tried to make everything seem logical...well, somewhat connected with reasons. So thank you for your feedback! I just...well started to doubt. **

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Or...she just doesn't have any guys that she likes... Well...Elfman's her perfect match... XD**

**firelass19: Yeah...a sappy emotional high school drama is pretty much what this is. I'm trying to make sure there's something happening in every chapter, so the story can move along. At least we have Loke/Sting to keep things happy. In my other stories, I always had it where Natsha fall in love easily, or at least, as long as the boy showed attraction, she would too. So yeah...this story is way going against my norms, such as making Natsha harder to love others, high school, and other stuff. **

**Alright, I have three endings for this story. One is very simply where no one gets hurt, but there's no end couple. The second one has family problems causing someone move away (could it be...death? divorce?). The third is mostly Lisanna based, where lots of stuff starts happening to her and kinda gloomy (somewhere on the lines of jealously, fangirls rage, illness, etc). If you guys pick the third, then I will make more scenes focusing on Lisanna's hardships, right after we get done with Gray/Lyon/Natsha loveshit. Tell me in the reviews. If not, I'm just gonna go with the first one and maybe use Lisanna's ideas for another story. **


	10. Chapter 9

Natsha stood there on the home plate. Her helmet was lowered, almost blocking her eyes, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her bat rested on her shoulder. Her hands were relaxed, just how she practiced with the white haired boy, and she took her stance.

She pulled the helmet up with her other hand and returned to position. To her left, third base, was where Lyon was hanging. His eyes were directly on her, waiting for the incoming pitch so that he could make his run for home base. His uniform, stuck to his body, was ragged compared to the others; his forehead glistened in sweat that he wiped off with his sleeve. Elfman was on the bench, waiting for his turn to bat; he wore the same cap as her. Another teammate, one that went by the name of Jet, stood on the first base.

Behind her was all of the fans from both of the teams; each one tried to outdo the other with their cheering. In the front two rows, on both sides, were occupied by friends and families of the teammates. Each player had two seats reserved, and the extras were in the back rows with faithful fans.

Natsha didn't care who came for her, as long as they treated to ice cream, she had no problems. Usually her spots were taken by Sting and Gray, since Igneel worked and Lisanna came with Elfman.

And, with her mind focused on the game, she didn't even notice who was in the stands.

Her days were turning into a cycle. Wake up, practice, school, practice, copy Lisanna's notes before the animals decided to tear them up, and then she rested.

The pitcher gave the gesture to the man behind her. His glove, where the ball rested, raised to his other hand in a fast motion. Within seconds, his arm swung backwards and the ball spun through the sky. It curved through the sky.

Her grip on the bat tighten and raised it to where she thought the ball was gonna travel through. She swung her bat backwards and landed a hit against the striped ball. It bounced back into the outfield and the Ravens were already heading towards it. She threw her bat behind, landing on Elfman's face, and dashed for first base.

Dust lifted from the third base and made a line to home plate. A white haired boy smirked as he returned to the benches.

Jet, without any hesitation or glances to the other members, breezed through second and then to third.

The ball, finally caught, went back to the pitcher as they assumed that both players were staying on their plates.

The cycle went again, with the next player up to bat. He hit the ball into the left outfield. Jet, when the ball returned to third during his run to home plate, continued along. The ball flew to the catcher, but Jet made it to home first.

Natsha made it to third as all of the attention was placed onto Jet than her.

She looked at the next batter, Elfman, but her eyes wandered to the stands in a moment of curiosity. As if looking for a familiar face.

She saw the sunny shade of Sting's hair, right next to Lisanna's. The two were cheering together. This does not mean that Sting was waving his hands or anything, but it means that he was doing the same cheer moves as Lisanna in the same moment.

How long did it take them to practice that?

Actually, how long have they been doing that without her noticing?

Natsha really needed to get that on video and blackmail him with it.

But, her thoughts quickly changed as she gazed at the next seat over from them. It remained empty, but it was usually filled by someone.

Wasn't it?

She was sure that there were no empty seats in the front row, at least that's what she remembered from her last four games.

She was sure that it wasn't Igneel she was thinking of.

Only one name came to mind.

Gray, the shitty ice bastard.

How…long has it been emptied?

She raked through her mind, looking for any recent memory of Gray.

Wasn't he at her practices...? No...

Didn't he walk her to class? No...

The last time that she saw him was on that day. The day before she started her morning practices. Why was that so?

There was no answer.

Her mind went blank with mashed thoughts and memories, until voices broke through. She lowered her head from the stands onto Lyon, who was waving his arms into the air, trying to get her attention.

"NATSHA! GO!"

Natsha was still in a game afterall.

Elfman just landed on first and another player was moments away from hitting the ball; and all of the bases were filled. She had to get to home or else it would result in their lost.

She tried to brace herself in those final seconds, and it all came to her like a dream. All of the voices in the background silenced as she darted the last base. The only one that she heard was of her friends' chanting and Lyon's shouts.

She made it.

Lyon took a deep breath, his throat felt dried, patted Natsha's back. "I thought I told you to pay attention to the game…" His voice cracked, and in result, he grabbed a paper cup of water and gulped it down.

"I…just went blank…?"

She seated herself and sighed. Her hand was on her forehead. Why the hell did she have to think about Gray at this moment of all moments?

Natsha could hear Lyon's mutter, but they were mashed together. She was still lost in her thoughts. She thought, she believed, that they had more contact, but those were memories from before her baseball season. She shifted forward in the bench, staring above to where she thought Lisanna and Sting seated themselves.

She had to talk to Lisanna.

But for now, she had to finish this game.

Every time she gotten into the field, she would blank out throughout the whole game. It gotten to the point that she was replaced with another player, and she stayed on the bench. As soon as the match ended, Sting and Lisanna surrounded her. Their faces were riddled with questions.

"Are you alright?"

"Did something happen?"

"Let's get out of here first," she decided. On her way out, not even changing to her normal clothes, she passed Lyon. And like them, he was also perplexed.

Before he could even get a word out, she raised a finger. "I'll explain later." And with that, she left him. Their 'date' was forgotten as another person clouded her thoughts.

…

The trio walked along the sidewalk with a huge gap between them and other walkers. She practically told the duo everything as they gotten out from the school. Though, she was not expecting their reactions.

Lisanna sighed in relief, while Sting uttered, "Bout time."

Quickly, Natsha remarked with, "What was that, cheerleader?"

His smugness vanished as he glanced at her with a frown formed in his forehead. "Cheerleader?"

Natsha snickered to herself.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

And now Lisanna giggled.

Neither one of them said a thing about it.

They headed past her house, to Gray's house down the street. She never went here unless if she needed to study, and for Lisanna, this was her second trip. Sting, while he considered Gray as his bud even though they were only friends of friends, never even knew he lived this close. "Man, and when you thought you knew a guy…" he said while scratching his head.

The two waited on the sidewalk while Natsha marched to the doorstep. Her fist hammered onto the cedar door, yet there was no answer. "GRAY! GET YOUR UGLY ASS OUT HERE!"

There was no movement inside of the house.

"He's gone?"

Lisanna bit her bottom lip. Now that she thought of it, Gray did look like he was in a hurry when he answered the door this afternoon. He looked disappointed when he found out it was only her outside, and not someone else. Really, the one time that Natsha decided to visit is the same time that he leaves. The two were horrible at timing.

"What about leaving a note?" Sting suggested.

Natsha shook her head and returned to them. "I'll catch him tomorrow."

Lisanna glanced back at the house for one last time before they left.

For the next day, Natsha did not meet her end of the promise.

Her knock was finally answered on Monday, but it wasn't Gray who answered, but Ur. She stood there in the clearing, her head to the side, and looked down upon the pink haired girl. "Yes, Natsha-chan?"

Natsha glanced behind the woman, hoping to catch glimpse of the bastard. "Is Gray here?" Her voice was full of hope.

"Oh, you mean the calculator," she paused for a second and shook her head, her bra bouncing from one side to the other. At least she had a bra and underwear on in the first place. "I believe he's staying over at Rogue-kun's house. He'll be back tomorrow." Once again, Ur paused as Natsha's hope was crushed. "I can always give him a message from you."

"No need," she shook her head and sighed. "I'll just be on my way."

Ur, with her motherly instinct at its highest point, grabbed Natsha's shoulder before she could leave. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? I can make some cookies and turn on a movie. It would be just like girls' night. What do you say? I think I have some peanut butter cookies somewhere in the cabinets…"

At the sound of cookies, her stomach growled. Which, to Ur, was a 'yes'. She pulled the girl inside of her house and marched right into the kitchen. Natsha stayed there until Ur's head peeked out, "Don't be a stranger, just sit down and relax." Her head went back, "And this time, I'll make sure to have it on the right temperature and minutes!"

Natsha obeyed and went into the living room. Everything was the same from her last visit. Except now there were candy wrappers thrown into the basket in the middle of the table, an outdated laptop under the couch, and a single jacket on the hooks by the TV.

It didn't take for long for Ur to return to the living room and started flipping through the channels until they settled on a cheesy horror movie called Gajeel the Phantom and Spooky Ghost Girl; which sounded more like a porno than actually movie. This movie was so famous during this season, that even the local movie theaters were showing it.

She rested herself along the couch while Ur took over the arm chair. Between them was a plate with fresh, not-fully-baked cookies.

**Alright, now we are getting into the juciy events.**

**firelass19: XD That's probably the one good thing about having most of this prewritten, I can focus on the events and not worry about writing a chapter within an hour then posting it. **

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: This is probably the best love triangle I've ever written, even if it's mostly Gray-centered. I was just about to add a huge scene with LyonNatsu right in the beginning.  
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**darkhuntressxir: I can't believe someone noticed that detail.  
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**Pridam: '**_Gray was sitting in his room, an empty ice cream box on his desk, and flipped through pictures of a smaller version of himself and Ur. He remembered the times before his sibling left for college. Did Ultear know? Who would have told her? A ping of guilt rested in his stomach. It just happened so fast and he couldn't do anything to stop it. He was helpless and now Ur was gone. Gone from this world. With a soft sigh, he turned off his computer and fell back onto his bed. The comforts of his blanket wrapped around him. A slight ringing echoed through the room, but he ignored it. On his nightstand, his phone lite up and read: 37 Messages. He ignored them all. He couldn't stand that pity in their voices. None of them knew how to act around him. They all tried their best to comfort him and that everything was going to be alright, but just wanted to forget. He wanted silence. Someone banged on the door...it echoed throughout the house. No answer. No nothing. _

_Ultear stood outside, her back to the door, and banged her head against the wooden panes. Even her phone rang, but at the moment, she did not care. It was either her stupid brother's friends or her own. "Dammit, Gray...Just answer the door..." She banged her head once more. Tears streamed down her face. The news was still fresh in her mind, and as soon as she heard, she raced back to her childhood home with no way to get inside. In her foggy vision, she saw two teens standing in front of the lawn. Without even questioning them, she shouted, "Get the hell away!" She didn't want strangers to see her tears. All she wanted at the moment was to rip apart her pillows. These feelings twisted her stomach._

_The two teens had no idea what to do. Their messages were not getting answer, and now this strange woman was shouting at them with tears in her eyes. Gray, what was going on? Why wasn't you answering?'_ **Imagine it somewhat like this. I like to think that Gray would distant himself and act like Rogue. But now that you asked that...and I wrote this...it would be a pity not to include this...wouldn't you say? :D**

**AsDarknessSpreads: XD We all know that Loke would kill himself if he cheated on Lucy... and Juvia has eyes only for her Stripper.  
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	11. Chapter 11

Gray felt like utter shit on Tuesday. He stood up from the pile of blankets, which he used as a bed, and stretched out his arms. Fro lifted her small head from Rogue's chest and blinked at the boy. "Meo?" The cat yawned and laid her head back down onto his chest.

"Oi," the boy leaned over Rogue and shook him, "Get up, dude. Doesn't your bus come soon? Like in ten minutes?"

Rogue, who woke up just from the first word, blinked at Gray with puzzlement and then understanding. "You broke my alarm clock, didn't you?"

"It fell off the table," Gray shrugged, "Damn thing kept beeping in my eye, I'm surprise that itself didn't even wake you up."

"The alarm is more for Fro. When she wakes up, I wake up."

"I…should have known it was something like that." Gray picked up a shirt from his backpack and pulled it over his arms and chest. Rogue, after waiting for Fro to move, did the same. It took them a few minutes to get all dressed. Neither one of them had any problems dressing in front of each other, though the cat hopped off before any skin was shown.

"I wish this was a four-day weekend."

"You will see Fro after school."

Rogue, completely ignoring Gray's comment, glanced over his shoulder. "Don't you?"

"Yeah, kinda," he shrugged. He really wanted to stay away from school as much as possible. It was like the only place that he and Natsha would meet. The only other time is at his house, and that was extremely rare. The girl only came for her own benefit, for his notes. "I would be surprise-"

The door bell rang through the house.

The two boys stared at each other in confusion.

Who the hell visits in this hour?

"Sting?" Rogue questioned.

"I hope…" Even though Sting was someone that Gray always tried to avoid. The dude never stops talking and acts like they are best buds even though they know nothing about each other. "Maybe Loke decided to give us a ride…" Which could happen, since Loke's been doing so after his girl trouble.

The two left the room and hurried into the living room. Rogue quickly checked the windows and gulped. "She saw me."

"She?"

"I have to open the door, Gray. I'm pretty sure she will kick it down if I don't."

"Who is she?" he repeated, louder than before.

It was already too late. Rogue opened the door and the girl jumped inside from the cold weather. Her eyes darted through the room until they landed on him. His heart missed a beat.

Natsha stood there. Her face was red. With anger? Or just a reaction against the cold? He really hoped it was the latter.

Then again, why would she be angry with him?

He, from what he can recall, didn't do anything to make her angry. Nothing at all. And he can even have Sting back him up on this…even if it meant becoming deaf after talking to the blonde.

"Gray! I'm gonna kill ya!" Her finger was pointed right at him. Her voice was filled with rage.

Of course she was angry. It was Natsha. But…why?

Rogue's hand moved to the table stand where his home phone rested. "Should I call the police?"

"Natsha!" Gray wheezed out before he was killed, not hearing a single word from his friend. "What the hell?!"

"Where the hell have you been, Bastard?!"

Both of the boys filled with confusion. "Huh?" The sound echoed through the living room.

"I haven't seen you in weeks!"

Gray took a deep breath. This was exactly what he didn't want to happen. To be confronted by her; he didn't know what to say. Natsha always gave off that urge to make him argue with her, or sometimes the urge to fall down to his knees and tell her the truth.

She looked dumbfound for a second as if she was suspecting him to fight back, then she pointed a finger at herself. "Did I do something? What did I do?" She sounded bewildered, and even foggy. Did she inherit Igneel's morning sickness?

He tried to calm her down, "You didn't do anything."

"Then why haven't I seen you in weeks?" This time her tone didn't sound aggressive, it was soft, even more puzzled as before.

_You are the one who is avoiding me at all costs. Always leaving me behind for Lyon. And acting unpredictable._ But instead, Gray said this, "I just have a lot of things on my plate right now, so I'm a bit busy."

"You two do know that the bus is pulling off right now," Rogue pointed out, but the two did not hear a single word. He didn't know if he should stay and watch out for Gray, or go to school. For some reason, he decided to stay.

"Why wasn't I told…?"

_Because you never contact me, or answer any of my messages. The only time I hear about any upcoming events is from Lisanna. And the times when we do talk, I can't get a word through edgewise._

He sighed, and answered with this instead, "I just didn't think about it."

"Well, think about other people next time."

_That's gold coming from you. _

"Will do," he nodded without much conviction.

Natsha sighed. She felt relief now that she gotten everything out into the open. She still couldn't believe herself about forgetting about Gray the whole time. She just been thinking too much of baseball that her mind gotten wrapped around it. Even though she was relief, she still had a ping of guilt in her gut for not saying a word to Lyon about missing morning practice. She even felt like she was forgetting something else at the moment. She glanced back at the two boys. "Come on, then. Now that everything's settled, let's get to school."

"The bus just came," Rogue pointed out once more.

"Really? Why didn't you say anything?"

Rogue looked like someone dropped a stone on his foot, and stared at her as if asking if she was serious.

"Maybe Loke would pick us up," Gray muttered, hoping to sound normal. Unlike the girl, he didn't feel relieve at all. He couldn't get out anything that he actually felt, and ended up lying to her. Then again, it wasn't really lying. Most of his problems were problems that his brain made up and turned them bigger than they were. He just really felt like being alone at the moment.

Rogue rested his hand on Gray's shoulder, as if knowing the boy's thoughts.

Natsha glanced between the two and almost had a nosebleed.

Neither one of them wanted to know what she was thinking, but it didn't stop Rogue from glaring at the girl. "Do you always think about yourself?" His usually soft voice came out like a razor blade.

Natsha blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Rogue's shoulders tensed up as he turned away. Gray bit his lower lip, hoping the boy would not say anything else about the matter. It was surprising that Rogue even say anything at all in the first place.

"Decent people do cancel their plans so that the other person doesn't waste their time."

The girl was still confused. "What…What are you talking about?"

"Rogue, please," Gray uttered out; almost in a whimper.

"Natsha, please start thinking about other people's feelings. It gets bothersome after a while, and it's a mystery as to why people like you in the first place."

Gray covered his friend's mouth before anything more could be said.

The pink haired stared at Rogue and Gray. She felt like they weren't telling her something. She barely understood anything that Rogue said at all.

Always thinking about yourself.

Well… She thought back and felt a ping of guilt. Could Rogue be talking about how she didn't even notice until two days ago that Gray wasn't there? She was too wrapped up in her own problems that she didn't even think about her…friend.

She gulped at the word.

Even though he was a bastard to her, he was still her childhood friend. He always has been since the day he moved down the street. After Erza moved away, he and Lisanna were her only friends. Going through high school made the two distanced themselves from each other, but they still had history of annoying the hell out of each other for fun.

She never really thought about what Gray and everyone had to put up with. To her, that's just how she was. She did whatever she felt like doing, and everyone else usually followed her without argument.

Finally, Gray let go of Rogue's mouth. A major mistake on his part.

"Gray puts up with all of your baggage for noth-"

"Rogue!"

Even though Natsha's main trait was her oblivious and rash nature, for once she could see the tension in the air. She felt like maybe she needed to wait outside. "Loke's will be here soon, right?"

Gray nodded, closing his phone and almost pushing Rogue into the kitchen. Natsha's eyes followed them before she turned around and went out the front door. She seated herself on the steps, watching the street as a few cars went by.

Cars…

She could already feel her stomach turning.

Inside of the house, Gray was a moment away from lecturing Rogue when he heard the front door closed. His jaw dropped, "She left?"

"No," Rogue shook his head, pointing out his window above the sink, "Looks like she's about to puke. Either I was too harsh or she's thinking about cars. Probably the latter."

Gray sighed and banged the back of his head on the wall. He looked through his half-closed eyes at his friend. "Did…you really mean all of that crap?"

Rogue only blinked. "It's been this way since middle school, and it doesn't look like Natsha will change unless if she knows there's a problem. If not, she will keep blaming you like always."

"When did you become a women's expert?"

"There's a lot of things you start to notice if you observe. Like how Loke taps the beats to his '_Everlastin' Divine-lovin'_ mixtape during fifth hour."

Isn't that a little too specific?

"I don't know if I should miss your old self or kiss your feet. When the hell did you change?" Gray could still remember the days that Rogue only sat by them and didn't say a word. Even though Gray always counted Rogue as one of his friends, did Rogue finally start seeing them as friends?

"When Fro grew up. It was like yesterday."

And, now he had to blow it.

He quickly raised his hand up, "I am only playing around."

"Too much change is happening…I can't understand it…" Gray touched his forehead. First, Rogue cussed and stood up for him, and now he was making jokes. What happened to the goth bastard that he knew and loved?!

And then he heard some unsettling noises from outside. The two glanced at each other before Gray raced outside with a trashcan. Natsha was bent over, hand practically glued to her mouth and gulped it down.

She sucked her lips in, feeling his stare on her, and gave a small smile. "I think I'm just gonna walk to school, or else I'll get more sick," she mumbled, "Tell Loke thanks for me anyways."

Gray placed the trashcan down. "I'll walk you t-"

She stepped up to the sidewalk. As soon as she focused herself on walking there instead of cars, her stomach started to cool down. "No, I'm fine now. I got here by myself, so I can get to school without any problems." She didn't even look at him, "Sorry, Gray. I just-…" She couldn't think of the right words. All of them felt so foreign on her tongue.

Her mind was always focused onto herself, around her sport, around how to finish her homework in time, and what was going to be for lunch.

Gray was always there for her, but she always thought of him as the default. When something is there for such a long time, she started believing that it will always be there, becoming a default in her life. On that one day, their last time walking home together, she didn't remember what happened, but she had a nasty feeling in the depths of her stomach. Something that she blamed Gray for making her feel that way. What was it? She had no clue how to describe it because it felt bitter.

She didn't notice Gray's absence because her other friends were always there, keeping her away from that thought. Such as Lyon in the mornings, and Sting, Lyon and Lisanna in the afternoon.

She didn't mean to be oblivious, rash and bothersome.

Just like Rogue said, she only thought about herself.

Natsha took a deep breath and said words she never thought she would have said until today. "Thanks a lot, Gray. Sorry I'm such an ass to you."

Rogue opened the front door, watching as Natsha left his front yard, marching down the street, while Gray standing there frozen.

As soon as the girl was gone out of sight, Rogue took the trashcan back inside. When he came out again, with his and Gray's backpack, he said, "Loke called back. Called us needy motherfuckers and that he will be here in ten with mixtapes."

"I have zero clue what the hell just happened," Gray finally broke from his silence.

"Since I did you a favor, will you help me?"

That didn't sound too promising, but Gray could only nod. Rogue did help, which seemed like it worked, so he had to help a brother out.

**Alright, this chapter will probably get the most 'feedback'. Either you feel like Natsha deserved what she got, or you feel like it was over the top, or you feel like the chemsity between the two has decreased. Tell me your thoughts, because really, that's what molding this story now. Next chapter is all fluff for all of the shit we went through.  
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**AsDarknessSpreads: It was an extra piece, has nothing to do with the story unless if I feel like it would add more to this literature piece. Yes, Natsha is indeed a female dog. Not really, it's just Nat-sha. Just think of Sasha, but with Nat as the beginning.  
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**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: XD took her 6,000 words to do so.  
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**darkhuntressxir: And now the two has made an encounter after such loss time.  
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**firelass19: GrayxErza? Let's just say, in this story is all about drama. But it's not the end of Lyon yet, and it's only the beginning of Gray's turn. We can only wait to see what other shit I add to the mix. Eh...I don't think so... Ur and Igneel are way too laidback in this story to enforce a curfew. The most she will do is make him eat her overcoooked ham. I just like to annoy my readers, so that they can't leave without knowing the ending.  
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**Pridam: Let's just say, it's not part of the fic at the moment :D She finally noticed her minion was gone the whole time, an now she has to close the distance between them.  
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	12. Chapter 12

Natsha entered the classroom after the bell. After everyone stared at her as if she killed Wade, Bob and Mark, they went back to their work and she trotted to her desk. Minerva glanced at her through the slits of her eyes and went back to the work on the bored.

The girl did not make a sound as she opened up her notebook and started doodling. An ice cube, a black cat, and a sun with sunglasses. She mostly focused on the ice cube until she crossed her whole picture off and moved it to the side. When Sting glanced at her 'artwork,' he almost thought it was a drawing from when she was a toddler; oh how wrong he was mistaken.

She practically banged her head on the desk.

Minerva cleaned her throat, but Natsha still had her head laid on her desk as if she had no care in the world.

Lisanna's eyes darted from her friend to the teacher. "Orlando-Sensei!" Her hand shot up into the air.

"Yes?" The purple haired uttered through the crack of her lips. Even with her back turned, the students could deep tension building in the air around her.

"Natsha-chan isn't feeling well; may I take her to the nurse?"

"Me as well!" Sting's hand shot up as well.

"Two escorting one student out?" Minerva hummed, "Doesn't seem neces-"

The quietest person in class then raised her hand into the air, stopping the teacher in midsentence. "I'm not feeling well either; maybe Sting-san can escort me to the nurses?"

After glaring at each of her students, she sighed, "Fine. Leave. When you come back, you will have more work assigned for this little disturbance."

None of them seemed to mind. Sting gracefully went over to Yukino's side, and muttered a soft, 'Thank you.' In which the girl calmly giggled behind her closed hands.

Natsha, after being probed by Lisanna, slowly moved out of the class. As soon as the door shut behind them, Yukino started off to the elsewhere with a book in her hand; seeing as how this wasn't her business.

"Where are we going?" The pink haired questioned.

"The creeps," Sting answered. The creeps were the other name for the old part of the school. It was on the first level, and it was off-limits to all. The school was too greedy to fix this area up, and only built onto the old building.

Some people believed the place to be haunted by Wendy Marble. A young girl who went here when the school was a middle school, and she completely disappeared one day. Legends say that she could talk to ghosts, and one day, the ghosts wanted her for themselves. And now her spirit, being the mightiest, haunted those halls.

"I thought we agreed on not going there," Lisanna uttered in mild displeasure.

"Do you want to go to the nurses and get sent back? I thought it was you who wanted to talk in the first place."

"Eh?" Natsha muttered, "What do you guys mean? Did I miss something?"

"Just wait," Sting grinned as he came to the staircase. He glanced at his two friends behind he went sliding down the railings and crashed right into the walls. "I wasn't planning that…" The blonde moaned.

Lisanna took a hold of Natsha's hand, before she could run away, and followed Sting down to the first floor. Soon, they were at the secret place. Lisanna and Sting turned to Natsha with their arms crossed. "What's wrong?"

"Is this why you forced me down here?"

"You weren't…looking alright during class." Lisanna commented, looking at Natsha's emotionless face. Usually the girl was so filled with excitement that it was hard for Lisanna to keep up, but now she looked like Rogue's younger sister.

"Is it about Gray? Did you ever get a hold of him?" Sting questioned. Both of them were waiting for Natsha to complain, to moan, or at least nod. Instead, Natsha started staring at the ground. "Yeah, I did."

"Did something happen?"

She shook her head. "Everything's taken care of. I can do shit, idiots. Don't underestimate me or else I'll make sure neither of you will see daylight again."

Her friends shared a frighten glance before nodding, but they both knew something did happen.

Natsha, pleased with herself, nodded and turned away, towards the staircase. "I'm heading back." She took a few steps before pausing, "Do I always think about myself?"

Lisanna glanced in confusion. She couldn't figure why Natsha would ask something like that out of nowhere.

Sting, on the other hand, glanced over at Lisanna and seen she had pretty much frozen, and bluntly answered Natsha, "Basically."

Natsha snickered to herself, "Thought so."

That stuck both of them in surprise.

…

Right as the bell rang, Natsha jumped in front of the doorway before the others could stampede out; leaving her friends mingled into the crowd. It didn't take her long to race down the hallway to a certain classroom. She waited while the students raced out before the three musketeers walked out.

The raven haired practically froze when he seen the pink haired. The orange haired gave him a playful shove. The black hair avoided her gaze, uncertain if she was going to get revenge for his blunt words this morning.

Natsha grabbed his wrist and whisked him away into the crowd of students. Gray blushed from his toes to his forehead. Rogue sighed as she left, feeling as though he was safe for the time being.

She was holding his hand. Something that came out of nowhere. But, from what happened for the last few days, it was something that he couldn't help but enjoy.

As long as he didn't get sweaty hands. Just the thought of that made his hands sweat.

"Looks like those two made up finally." Loke wiped away a fake tear, "And here I thought another Erza episode was gonna happen."

"Erza?"

"Oh yeah, that's way, way before your time, dude. You're lucky you weren't around during that." Just the thought of her made him frighten.

Rogue's smirk started to fade away. Whoever this Erza person was must have been a demon to give the womanizer weak knees. "No wonder you act like you do…"

"Is that suppose to mean something?"

"Rogue-san!" Sting shouted across the hallway before Rogue could response. Within seconds, Sting and Lisanna joined the two.

"Sting," Rogue greeted with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Hey, I was asking a questi-"

Loke was too late. Sting already started talking. It would take an earthquake to stop it. Instead, Loke and Lisanna took their leave from the two best friends.

"Lucy-chan?" Lisanna questioned.

Loke smirked, "Yup. Natsha-chan?"

"Heh," Lisanna nodded, "Natsha-chan seems better than she was this morning. Which is a good thing. Especially for Gray-kun~!"

Loke noticed the small changes in her face and smirked to himself. "I'm guessing you will never tell him?"

Lisanna sucked her lips in and gently shook her head. "Things are looking so swell, finally." She shook her head again, with a blush pasted onto her cheeks, "Lokun, will you please forget about it for me?"

"Sure thing, Lisachan." Loke gently rubbed her hair like one would do to their younger sibling. "I can always help you, y'know."

"No thank you," she giggled, "I've seen how you pick them, but Luchan's seems to be the only exception."

Like Lisanna, Loke was blushing. All it took was the mention of her name. He scratched the back of his neck, "Probably the best choice I've ever made." There was a slight pause before Loke's eyes widen and he slapped his hands together. "I know who would be your perfect match!"

"Who?"

"Bickslow!"

"Huh?!"

"I'm just kidding," Loke snickered mostly to himself, "But, I really do think you and Rogue could be a cute couple."

"Can we please stop talking couple stuff?"

"You never say no," Loke smiled kindly as they went out the door. Lucy was leaning against the side of the building, with a grin on her face. As soon as she saw the two, she waved at them. "Luchan!" He smiled, his eyes in a daze, and wrapped his hands around her.

Lisanna smiled as well and gave a small bow with her head, "Hey Lucy-chan!"

"Lisanna, right?" She never met Lisanna face-to-face before, but she heard enough from Loke whenever he mentioned his friends.

She nodded.

"Lisa!" Sting shouted. Yes, Sting is a shouter no matter where he is; even in the restroom, especially if he finds Rogue at a stall; the blonde just had to shout or else his heart would give out. The boy popped up behind the three, along with Rogue at his side. As soon as he saw the blondie, he smiled and waved, "Oh, hey sis! Remember, no PDA."

"I think my eardrums popped," Lucy uttered under her breath. A vein pulsed through her forehead. She could already tell she was going to be annoyed with her brother there.

Loke smiled at the group. "I got an idea."

"What is it?" Rogue questioned.

Lucy glanced at Lisanna, as if already apologizing for anything that Loke is about to say.

"Whatever it is, I'm up for it!" Sting roared with his fist in the air.

"Let's go bug Natsha-chan and our home boy, Gray!" The orange haired was already smiling evilly. If Gray somehow made it to second base within the last five minutes, Loke wouldn't be surprise. He never thought he would actually see Natsha hold Gray's hands, yet it did in fact happen. Whatever happened this morning must have been a miracle.

The five of them walked together to the back of the building and filled the seats around Gray. The baseball players were still changing, and the seats were just starting to get filled up by other students. Well, there were only fourteen other people there, so the stands were mostly vacant. The raven haired was caught off guard as he saw all of them. "Did something happen?" He asked while twisting around. He thought Lisanna was the only one coming, since she usually did so.

"Today, it's a party," Loke shook his shoulder and took the seat behind him; with Lucy following suit. Lisanna and Rogue sat next to Gray. And Sting took the other seat next to Rogue. Quickly, Sting went back to talking about nonsense to Rogue, while Loke and Lucy were doing couple stuf behind Gray. Lucy was stiffer with her brother around, causing Sting to laugh and bug her.

Lisanna laid her hands in her lap. She was so happy that the tension between Natsha and Gray disappeared, and now everyone could relax; and she was even happier that her discussion was forgotten about. With her lips curling at the end, she nudged Gray's elbow. "Details?"

Gray, flustered, shook his head. "Let's just say everything back to normal. Actually, it's probably better than normal…" He couldn't help but smiling as he said those words. He felt like a teenage girl after getting asked out on a date. "Maybe I should stay more nights at Rogue's house."

"I rather not have my alarm clock destroyed again."

"Man, I should have stayed over. I bet it was so juicy this morning," Loke uttered.

"What did happen?" Lucy questioned, feeling out of the mix. Unlike the others, she had no clue about the business between Gray and Natsha. She only knew the guy had some lady problems, but she didn't know any of the details. She could still remember their double date, Gray was too shy to do anything other than nod his head and drop the bowling ball onto his toes. Has his toes healed since then?

"Nothing," Gray answered, "Everything's better now, so that's all to it. If you guys want to know more, then I'll tell you."

"Dude, you already know the answer. We all want to know," Loke smirked.

"I'm still confused about everything," Sting admitted. He only knew what Natsha was like afterwards and that wasn't enough to piece everything together. The girl went from self-harming to cherry-picking in the matter of only hours.

"As am I…" Lucy added.

"Alright," Gray said, "This is what happened. I got clawed by a little mutant cat."

Rogue gave him a deadly glare.

"And that's why we don't let you tell stories," Loke sighed and leaned back into his seat, placing his arm around Lucy. "And here I was, getting hopeful for nothing. You are already a letdown sometimes, asshole."

By now, the players were exiting the building. Lyon followed Natsha at a distance; the gang on the stands did not know why Lyon wasn't on top of Natsha's heels, he didn't even try to send anyone a death glare. The girl practically did a summersault when she seen all of her friends and Lucy on the stands. Well, she didn't even know who the girl was, but she still waved like she knew her.

"That's Natsha, right?" Lucy asked her boyfriend, nodding down to the pink haired.

"Yup. She's an idiot, oblivious, angry yet very determined, but she's our Natsha of the group. And for some reason, our home boy and the snowflake likes her. Have I even introduced everyone to you yet?" He blinked, and then shook his head to answer his own question.

"Snowflake?" Rogue questioned out loud, and a second later, he understood, "Oh, Lyon."

"That's right, Rogue." Loke flicked his finger to the black haired, "He's our goth of the group with an odd obsession for cute stuff. Next to him is his cocky boyfriend, Stin-"

And of course, that had gotten Sting's attention. "Hey! I'm not his boyfriend!" The whole row of seats rumbled from his voice.

Loke nodded and whispered into Lucy's ear, "I mean girlfriend." With a snicker, he continued, "He's a loudmouth, but then again, that's your brother so you probably know and I don't know why I'm saying anything more." Loke then nodded to Lisanna, "And Lisanna, you have already been introduced but oh well, she joined us so it's not a sausage feast."

"But Natsha's a gir-"

"Do we really know for sure?" And with that, he continued, "She's basically the youngest member next to Sting, so she's like a lil sister whose always getting sick. Her house is an animal shelter. I really don't see why Rogue and she aren't closer."

_Well, I kinda do. _

He thought to himself, stealing a glance at Gray.

He pointed to the other white-haired fellow on the field. "Oh, and her brother, Elfman, plays catcher on the team; he's basically a man-wannabe. Sometimes he joins us, sometimes he doesn't. So, that's basically our group. With me as the leader, as well as your handsome boyfriend." He clicked his tongue and kissed her hand.

"I'm about to throw up," Sting moaned, holding his stomach close.

"Sting! Loke!" Lucy squealed with a blush and retracted her hand.

"Am I really the little sister of the group?" Lisanna uttered under her breath and started pouting.

"Loke's the leader?" Rouge questioned out loud, confused like the others. He didn't really seem to care about Loke's comments about him and Lisanna, and him and Sting. He barely paid attention to the orange-haired.

"Eh, kinda," Gray shrugged, answering Lisanna, not Rogue. As soon as he said those words, he was racing through his mind for something else to say. "It's not because you are small, but…"

"GO NATSHA!" Sting jumped from his seat and shouted through his hands.

The others stopped in the middle of their conversation and stared at the field. Natsha, with a huge grin on her face, raced to the third plate. Lyon was racing into the outfield after the ball. She passed the base as he picked up the ball. And she made it to home before the other pitcher caught the ball.

The coach blew his whistle, "Switch!"

The baseball players switched sides, Natsha ended up on second base, while Elfman was in the outfield. Lyon was next to the plate, after Jet.

"Man, they are getting better," Gray commented, mostly to himself. Especially Natsha, he thought.

Because Lyon helped her in their practices.

He quickly sweep that thought to the back of his mind.

It's a good day, no need for bad thoughts.

Just think about her holding his hand.

He felt his cheeks flushed.

When the game was over, Rogue made sure there was always three bodies between him and her. He just had to be careful.

**So...I knew last chapter was gonna get more than usually feedback...but I didn't expect this much. Now I feel bad for this and next chapter because there's not much development other than pairing moments (then again, there's a lot more to add, so maybe this break was needed).**

**firelass19: Now the bad this is there's a bit of time limit for Gray coming soon. I guess that's gonna be his Last Chance (yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah). Natsha's suppose to be the love interest, so I'm trying my best to keep her as understandable as possible. People seem to love Rogue and Loke...I have completely ruined their characters in this fic...and I've done the same to Sting's character as well... After trying new angles with him, as the uniexperienced, the rich, the immature, I just kinda just made him into the friendly loudmouth with no regrets.**

**AsDarknessSpreads: Natsha just seems better than the others choices that I've used for Fem!Natsu, such as Natsumi and Natsa. In all seriousness...I'm pretty sure Gray isn't gay in this fic. All of his love interests are girls. And...yeah, you are ...but so am I. I mean, I write fanfiction of make-believe characters, so yes, I'm a weirdo.**

**Purp-lex16754: Well, we have finally arrived to the fluff moments. So expect some of that for the next two chapters (of both pairings).**

**darkhuntressxir: Bout time.**

**EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Do both. Confuse him. That's the thing I've noticed about some friends. They only care about "crushes" because of you, so they don't mind about hurting the crushes' feelings as much as you is a double-sided sword because they can use it to embarrass you in front of your crush or to stand up for you.**

**Krazypeople: thanks for your feedback! You do not know how many times I rewrote this chapter. At first, this wasn't even a chapter. Then, it was mainly Gray taking abuse from Natsha. Then I added Rogue's scene. Then I changed Natsha around so she didn't seem like a bitch. So yeah...I have mauled over this for quiet a while.**

**JustAnotherFairy: ... I have no words for this other than this is awesome.**

**Pridam/Guest: Heh, it's alright. Well, I think for Rogue, I'm just mainly focusing on friendship ties because I see him as a guy who takes a while to get close to others (other than Sting). I'm thinking of adding Gajeel to this flick, but I've already mentioned him as a movie star, so I don't know how to connect that to this school setting and there won't be much of a purpose other funny scenes...though...Rogue could be a superfan boy and have his walls filled with Gajeel's stuff...man...I should have done that last chapter. If you have read King's Contact, then you know that I kinda like Rufus from Sabertooth. To me, he seems like a man who likes control and dislike those inferior than him. Yukino...I don't really see much of a difference between her and Lisanna other than her being overly formal...then again...they do have the same design almost.**


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